BILLINGS — While many are focusing on the warm-up for later in the week, we still have short-term consequences from the snow.
Periods of heavy snow will continue in the Red Lodge foothills and around Sheridan and the Bighorn mountains Tuesday evening. As the system exits to the east, areas of snow showers are possible in Southeast Montana and Eastern Wyoming through Wednesday morning.
Some area roads to the south and east of Billings have become snowpacked, and melting and refreezing snow could cause some slick conditions. Additional snow Tuesday night will cause blowing and drifting, poor visibility, and the wet conditions with the wind will be hard on young livestock.
While snow hasn't been much of a factor north of Billings, everybody will be chilly early Wednesday. Lows will be in the single digits and teens and Wednesday afternoon highs recover to the 30s to low 40s.
Thursday is a transition day with warming and drying conditions continuing to build. In general, Thursday will be about 10° warmer than Wednesday, and expect another 10° leap Friday afternoon.
That will put us firmly into the 70s for the highs for Easter weekend, with even some low 70s possible into early next week. Expect winds to increase near Livingston/Nye as the warm-up builds, and a few showers are possible with weak disturbances moving through.
Increased mountain snow melt and a quick warm-up will add to the risk of ice jams and quickly rising streams and creeks. This would be a good time to move livestock and equipment away from low-lying areas.
