BILLINGS — Unsettled weather brings wind and showers in the short term. By the end of the weekend, a more significant change in the pattern seems to be on track. And that looks to carry us into the new year.
Light to moderate snow will continue around the mountains over the next several days. The biggest impacts will be in areas like Cooke City on the west facing slopes where up to 10 inches of snow seem reasonable.
Winds will gust to 60 mph in the wind-prone Livingston foothills, near Big Timber, Harlowton, Nye, and other areas close to the east mountain slopes to the west of Billings. This will continue off-and-on through the weekend.
Temperatures will stay unseasonably warm through Sunday with lows in mainly the 20s and highs in the upper 30s to upper 40s for most lower elevation locations through the weekend.
Sunday afternoon through Monday morning, there is a good chance of rain and snow switching to all snow. We don't have enough information on the timing of the colder air moving in to predict snowfall totals with a lot of confidence at this point. But it could vary a lot based on elevation.
