The thing that strikes me as soon as I look over this picture of downtown Billings, is how green the trees are. This is a true sign of a very wet spring and early summer.
In the early afternoon, the temperature in Billings is 65 degrees under a partly cloudy sky. The reason Billings is a little cooler is because there was a rain shower, just last hour, that covered the city.
Since then, that rain shower has moved on and Billings is starting to dry out.
Around the rest of the state, temps are mostly into the 60s and 70s, but where we see temps mostly into the low to mid-60s, that’s where we’ve had some rain showers.
In fact, Billings has measured 0.17 inches of rain so far today and the same thing at Sheridan, but the big winner is Cody with over half an inch of rain there today.
Our thunderstorm Outlook for Friday shows isolated thunderstorms possible everywhere across Montana.
But in the Southeast corner of the state, we have a marginal risk of severe storms and an increased risk of severe storms in Carter and Powder River counties.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery show that where the big storms are falling today are around the Broadus area on up towards Miles City.
We currently have a flash flood watch for all southeastern Montana and a severe thunderstorm watch for Carter County until 9 p.m.
It is a surface Low-pressure cell that’s moving into southeastern Montana, that is pulling the rain away from Billings and sending it over into that corner of the state.
Our High-Resolution forecast model shows that heavy thunderstorms will continue to move into Eastern Montana taking the rain away from Billings for the rest of the afternoon and evening and even into the weekend.
Our temperatures will continue to remain on the mild side today but start jumping up into the 80s as we head into the weekend and the early part of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear with only a 20 percent chance for early evening showers or thunderstorms. Look for patchy fog after 3 a.m. with an East wind at five to 10 mph. Low 54 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny with patchy early morning fog and a 20 percent chance for late afternoon showers and thunderstorms. East winds five to 10 mph. High 83 degrees.
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. South winds five to 10 mph. High 89 degrees.
