BILLINGS — After a pleasant start, a late winter/spring storm system will move into the region Wednesday afternoon, bringing widespread precipitation and cooler temperatures through early Friday.
Lower elevations can expect rain to develop Wednesday afternoon with a few isolated thunderstorms possible. As a cold front moves through, this will transition to all snow by late evening, and snow showers will linger through early Friday. Areas roughly along and west of a line from Harlowton to Billings to Lame Deer to Sheridan, WY could pick up between 1–4 inches, but Red Lodge could receive over a foot. Expect mostly all snow across area mountains, with between 10–20 inches possible. Some spots could receive two feet if conditions are right. Adjacent foothills could pick up anywhere from 3 inches to over a foot depending on elevation. Total moisture from the rain and snow is expected to range from 0.2 to 1.5 inches depending on location.
Winds will turn stronger on Thursday with gusts between 20–40 mph possible, maybe stronger along area foothills.
High pressure brings dry conditions and near-seasonal temperatures on Saturday.
Some models forecast another disturbance moving in Sunday, bringing chances for more mountain snow and lower elevation rain into early next week, but there is still some uncertainty with this. Temperatures are expected to be warmer, so snow melt along with rain received could lead to flooding concerns in the foothills.
Daytime highs will be mainly in the 60s on Wednesday, 30s and 40s on Thursday, mainly 40s on Friday, 50s and 60s across the weekend, then 50s on Monday and Tuesday.
Nighttime lows will be in the 20s and 30s on Wednesday and Thursday nights, 20s on Friday night, 20s and 30s on Saturday night, then 30s on Sunday and Monday nights.
Miller Robson
Q2 Morning Meteorologist
miller.robson@ktvq.com
