BILLINGS — At midweek, you are looking at a few high clouds over the Pryor Mountains and some of the fall foliage just now starting to pop out in Billings.
It was a little bit cooler Wednesday in Billings, and in the early afternoon the temperature was only 59 degrees with a light wind at 6 mph.
Around the rest of the state, our current temps are mostly to the 50s and 60s with some of the 60s in central Montana around Lewistown and Billings.
Our smoke forecast shows generally smokeless skies Wednesday but that is fixing to change Thursday morning.
A fresh batch of smoke will follow a high-pressure cell in the Great Basin area and pump the smoke into Billings.
The smoke will stick around for most of Thursday and Friday, but then northwesterly winds should blow it out in time for the weekend.
On Wednesday, we do see a narrow band of high clouds tracking over the central part of the state. This is where we have our next cold front, which is going stationary and pushing up against the mountains.
East of that stationary front, we have cool conditions. To the west, it's a little bit warmer.
We expect the cool air in eastern Montana to slide to the east allowing warmer temperatures out west to move in on Friday.
This should warm Billings up into the 70s on Friday afternoon, then dip back down to the 60s on Saturday, as another cold front back doors into Billings from the northeast.
It will be 64 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Billings, and then we cool back down to the 40s in the morning. We warm up to 59 degrees by 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
However, we top out at 67 on Thursday, 74 on Friday and back to 67 on Saturday. Then it's into the upper 70s Sunday through Tuesday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. North winds 5 to 15 mph low 39 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny and mild. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. High 67 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer still. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph the morning shifting to the north in the afternoon. High 74 degrees.
