BILLINGS — It is another Chamber of Commerce day in Billings. The weather is almost perfect. The smoke is dissipating, and the temperatures are too.
Early Friday afternoon, the temperature in Billings was 73 degrees with an east wind at 8 mph.
Around the rest of the state, the temps are mostly into the 70s, although Dillon is 69.
A high-pressure cell over the Four Corner states continues to send smoke up our way, but northerly winds out of Canada continue to blow some of the smoke back down to Wyoming. It seems to be thinning the smoke for Billings.
We do have a fire weather watch for most of western Montana on Saturday afternoon until midnight. Erratic fire behavior is possible as a cold front sweeps through the area.
The Doppler radar doesn't show a drop of rain anywhere in the state, in fact, much of the Pacific Northwest.
The high-resolution forecast model shows high pressure will continue to dominate our weather pattern for Friday. A warm front will sweep through and cook us back up into the 90s on Saturday.
That will be followed by a cold front on Sunday, which will cool us down and bring us a slight chance for rain.
Our temperatures will cool down to the 40s and 50s Friday night across south-central and eastern Montana. Then bounce back up into the 80s and 90s one more time on Saturday.
We will be at 81 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Friday, then cool back down the 58 degrees in the morning and back up to 84 degrees about 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
We will top out at 92 on Saturday, then drop back down to the 60s on Sunday and Monday bounce back to the 80s on Tuesday Wednesday and 79 degrees for a high on Thursday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and cooler. East winds 5 to 15 mph, shifting to the northwest 5 to 10 mph overnight. Low 55 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and hot. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. High 92 degrees.
SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy and cooler with a good chance of rain. North winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain is 70%. High 62 degrees.
