BILLINGS — It is another beautiful day in our neighborhood. Just look at that beautiful blue sky with a few puffy clouds and the fall foliage at its peak in the Yellowstone Valley.
In the early afternoon, it was 77 degrees in Billings with mostly sunny skies and a southwest wind at 10 mph.
Around the rest of the state, our temps are mostly into the 60s, 70s and a few 80s sprinkled here or there. We have a Red Flag Warning from Canada all the way down to, and including, Billings until 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Warm temperatures, high winds and low humidity are all combining to create erratic fire behavior and possible new wildfire starts in the warned area.
Should a fire get going with these winds, it will burn out of control in a hurry.
The Doppler radar shows most of the clouds and rain continue to stay in Canada, but we have a northwesterly flow of air where the jet stream is.
Some of the wind from the jet stream is mixing all the way down to the surface, creating the gusty winds across Montana Tuesday.
The high-resolution forecast model shows we will see mostly sunny skies across much of southern Montana throughout Tuesday, Wednesday and even into Thursday afternoon
A weak cold front will develop across the Hi-Line and eventually push into the mountains by Wednesday, cooling us off and then retreating back east again and letting things warm-up on Thursday.
It will be 84 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, then we cool down to 50 degrees in the morning and back up to 66 degrees by 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
We will top out at 73 on Wednesday, up to 83 on Thursday, then roll back into the 70s on Friday and Saturday and into the low 60s on Sunday and Monday, with a chance of rain both of those days.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 45 degrees.
WEDNESDAY: Sunny and cooler. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. High 73 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 83 degrees.
