BILLINGS — A cold front sweeping through the region will bring mountain snow and lower elevation rain from Tuesday morning through Tuesday evening as daytime highs cool to the 50s and 60s. It will be windy, with gusts between 40-50 mph, greatest across the western foothills. Most of the rest of the area could feel gusts between 20-40 mph.
The Beartooths and Absarokas could pick up over 6" of snow by Tuesday night, especially on west-facing areas, while the Bighorns could receive up to 6". Precipitation will be all rain in the lower elevations, and some towns could get a thunderstorm. For areas that do get thunderstorms, gusty winds up to 50 mph and small hail will be of concern. Rainfall totals will generally be less than a tenth of an inch.
Periods of light mountain snow and lower elevation rain will remain in the forecast on Wednesday, as wind gusts between 40–50 mph out of the west-northwest continue along the western foothills, while gusts between 20-40 mph will remain possible across the rest of the area.
The weather improves Wednesday night through Friday, as high pressure brings warm and dry conditions back into the forecast.
We're keeping an eye on another potential disturbance moving in over the weekend that could bring cooler and unsettled conditions to the area from Saturday through Monday, with on-and-off mountain snow, lower elevation rain, and wind. There is still some uncertainty with this, but it would be best to stay updated on the forecast in case you plan to be outside this weekend. We'll keep you posted.
Daytime highs will be in the 50s and 60s on Wednesday and Thursday, 70s to near 80° on Friday (a few areas could flirt with record highs), 60s and 70s on Saturday, then mainly 50s on Sunday and Monday.
Nighttime lows will be mainly in the 30s through Wednesday night, 30s and 40s on Thursday night, 40s on Friday night, 30s and 40s on Saturday night, then 30s on Sunday night.
Miller Robson
Q2 Morning Meteorologist
miller.robson@ktvq.com
