BILLINGS — Periods of wind, and lots of it. Then periods of snow but not much of it. Lastly, our focus turns to a cold weekend.
Wind: Gusts around the Big Timber and Harlowton areas will be the strongest overnight with gusts of 40 to 50 mph. Winds will become more widespread on Thursday, with Livingston having a good chance of seeing 50 to 60 mile per hour gusts.
As the day goes on, winds will spread across the eastern plains of Montana. As the cold front moves through the area Friday, winds will become more widespread, increasing the chance of blowing snow.
Snow: A trough of low pressure starts to move into the area late Thursday through Friday, causing areas of rain and snow showers changing to all snow. Overall accumulations will be very light to no snow in the eastern plains, to around an inch in the Billings area, to one to four inches in the mountain foothills.
Around Red Lodge, we could see up to five inches of new snow, with three to five inches of snow in the higher elevations. The bulk of the snow will be on Friday, with a few flurries and showers on Saturday.
Temperatures: Thursday will be the warmest day we will see for a while, with afternoon readings mainly in the 40s. Expect sunshine in the morning with increasing clouds in the afternoon.
Most of the highs on Friday will be during the early morning hours, with temperatures steadily dropping through the afternoon and evening. This will be along and behind the cold front moving through.
Saturday begins a much colder weather pattern with highs only into the single digits and teens on Saturday and above and below 0 on Sunday and Monday, with the colder readings being in eastern Montana. Monday morning looks like the coldest overall, with teens to 20s below zero first thing. new line A warmer weather pattern will follow driving temperatures to the 20s on Tuesday and even low 30s by Wednesday.
