BILLINGS — Billings is starting to see a few sun breaks in that cloud cover Wednesday, and we seem to be using them very well. The early afternoon temperatures are already in the upper-30s, heading for 40s.
Around the rest of the state, we are still a little cool in the northeast corner, where temps are mostly into the teens and 20s. Across the rest of Montana, we are seeing mostly to the 30s and 40s.
On the threat board, we have a Winter Storm Watch for Yellowstone National Park for up to 12 inches of snow in the valleys and 24 inches in the higher elevations.
This starts Wednesday and lasts through Friday morning.
In northeastern Montana, we could see 2 to 4 inches of snow until 9 p.m.
Out west we have a Winter Weather Advisory, for 2 to 4 inches of snow in the valleys and up to 13 inches of snow in the mountains Thursday morning.
The current Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows a zonal flow of air with rain and snow showers traveling from west to east.
In fact, we are expecting to see several waves of moisture track across Montana over the next few days.
The high-resolution forecast model shows that by Thursday morning you'll see snow showers that'll change to rain during the afternoon when the temperatures warm up.
On Friday we get to see it all over again, snow changing to rain in the afternoon.
Our temperatures are expected get back up into the 40s in the afternoon then roll back down to the 30s overnight and get back into the 40s again around 2 p.m. Thursday.
We will top out at 46 degrees on Thursday and then roll back down to the 30s through the weekend and into the early part of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Partly cloudy and a little cool. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 28 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of snow showers and breezy. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 46 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy and breezy with a 40% chance for snow in the morning and rain and snow showers in the afternoon. West winds 15 to 25 mph. High 39 degrees.
