BILLINGS — We are seeing light rain as it passes just south of the Billings area, heading in towards the Pryor Mountains. So far, just some light rain, nothing severe, not even small hail.
However, the temperature is very comfortable at 63 degrees under a partly cloudy sky in Billings. Around the rest of the state, our temperatures are mostly to the 50s and 60s with the hots pot in Jordan at 68 degrees early Thursday afternoon.
The Doppler radar tells you the story today- a line of showers starting in Bozeman going into the Beartooth Mountains, the Pryor Mountains and the Bighorn Mountains, with most of the rain continuing south of Billings.
In fact, that's what our high-resolution forecast model is talking about- some instability showers across the south-central part of the state. But so far, most of it seems to be right on the Wyoming state line.
If we do see any showers, it will probably be very late Thursday afternoon. We might see some sprinkles after 5:30 or 6 p.m.
However, our best chance of rain is going to be Friday morning when a fresh batch of moisture moves in from the Great Basin area and sits and spins over south-central Montana.
This means we could see rain showers off and on throughout much of the day on Friday and then that afternoon, maybe even some stronger thunderstorms.
However, by Saturday, the whole mess starts to slide away, and we will look at mostly sunny skies moving in for the weekend.
The only trouble with warmer temperatures moving in on Saturday and Sunday is it could cause a more high-altitude snow melt in the mountains, causing more water to run-off into our rivers, creeks and streams.
Thursday, we will get up to 65 degrees at 3 p.m. then roll it back down to the 40s Friday morning and back up to 56 degrees by 1:30 p.m. The high temp on Friday will top out at 59 degrees, 68 on Saturday and 79 on Sunday.
On Monday, we will get up to 84 degrees with a chance for some stronger thunderstorms developing that afternoon and evening. After that, we will roll the temperatures back down into the 70s.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance for rain showers in the evening, then a chance for rain showers overnight. East winds 5 to 10 mph the evening shifting to the West overnight. Low 45 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 90% chance for rain showers the morning then more rain showers and thunderstorms possible in the afternoon. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. High 59 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and a little but warmer. West winds 5 to 15 mph the morning shifting to the South 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. High 68 degrees.
