BILLINGS — Warm and windy conditions on Thursday created fire conditions. The wind will ease, but the warm and dry conditions will linger through the weekend.
Red flag warnings in effect for eastern Montana, eastern Wyoming and the western Dakotas will expire Thursday evening. Overnight temperatures will slip down into the 40s to low 50s and afternoon highs on Friday will once again hit the 80s and a few low 90s.
For Saturday, the pattern holds with more warm and dry conditions. An approaching cold front on Sunday will boost the temperatures more and threaten some record-high readings across southern Montana and northern Wyoming.
With temperatures spiking to the 80s and 90s Sunday afternoon, that front will create some periods of wind and once again likely increase our fire risk. But as the front passes, temperatures will turn sharply cooler early next week.
High temperatures will be into the 60s and 70s each day next week, with overnight temperatures in the 40s to low 50s for the lower elevations. The outlook for any rain remains pretty low.