BILLINGS — It has rained in the Billings area most of Wednesday morning, and it's starting to do the same thing for the rest of the afternoon. In the early afternoon, it was 51 degrees in Billings with light rain still falling.
So far, Billings has measured 0.31 inches of rainfall, Butte has measured 0.61 and we've seen a quarter-inch of rain at Helena, Bozeman and Dillon. Odds are we will see more rain in those areas the rest of the day.
Our thunderstorm outlook is talking about showers across all of Montana Wednesday and Thursday but only for the western half of the state. That half of the rain will include Billings, but we do see drying conditions in eastern Montana.
Most of the Winter Weather Warnings and Advisories have expired in western Montana with one exception. That exception is the Beartooth Mountains, where we still have a Winter Weather Advisory until 6 a.m. Thursday.
There we could see 6 to 8 inches of snow possible in the region. The Doppler radar shows you it is still snowing up in the Beartooth Mountains on Wednesday in the early afternoon.
Down in the lower elevations, we are seeing mostly rain, and in some of the foothills we are seeing heavy rain.
The high-resolution forecast model shows those showers will continue to rotate their way across southern Montana Wednesday afternoon. Billings will be in and out of the rain for the rest of the day.
Then on Thursday morning, most of the showers will start to dissipate. However, we could see one more batch of rain move through by 3 p.m. Thursday. Then on Friday morning, look for mostly sunny skies.
The computer models say Billings could pick up another two-thirds of an inch of rainfall and places like Bozeman and Livingston could see another three-quarters of an inch of rain.
Our temps continue to stay cool Wednesday, mostly into the 50s until we cool down to 48 in the morning. Then it's back up to 59 degrees about 2 p.m. Thursday.
We will top out at 66 on Thursday, into the 70s on Friday and Saturday and then finally into the 80s on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with an 80% chance for showers and thunderstorms early. Then more rain likely overnight. West winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 48 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance for rain in the morning then showers likely in the afternoon. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 66 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny with a 30% chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. High 75 degrees.
