BILLINGS — It has turned out to be another beautiful Monday afternoon in Big Sky country.
You'll notice is not very much snow up in the Pryor Mountains just south of Billings. We still have plenty of blue skies with the wind and some warm temperatures.
Monday afternoon in Billings, it's 57 degrees with mostly sunny skies. The wind is out of the southwest at 16 mph.
Around the rest of the state, we're into the 30s and 40s out in the far west, and Kalispell is only 29 degrees. Back east to the Divide, we see a lot of 40s and 50s, and Sheridan is reporting 67 degrees early Monday afternoon.
When it comes to wind, we have some pretty strong downsloping winds off the eastern slopes of the Divide ranging from 21 mph at Livingston up to 41 mph at Cut Bank.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows cloudy skies rolling into the north-central part of the state and a couple sprinkles just north of Great Falls. All of that seems to be dissipating as it moves farther into the state.
The high-resolution forecast model shows we will enjoy mostly sunny skies across south-central Montana most of the day.
We think by the time Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning gets here, your next system will start moving into the northwest corner of the state producing snow showers up there.
That whole system pushes through the Billings area Wednesday night and Thursday morning. We think it will race through pretty quick. So, it probably will not drop a great deal of snow maybe just some flurries or a trace.
It will be 46 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Monday, then we roll back down into the upper 30s in the morning. We zoom up to 55 degrees by 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
We will top out at 59 degrees on Tuesday, then roll it back into the 30s on Friday and Saturday, then 40 degrees on Sunday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear, breezy and cool. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Low 35 degrees.
TUESDAY: Mostly sunny, breezy and warmer. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 59 degrees.
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny and not quite as warm. South winds 5 to 15 mph. High 51 degrees.
