BILLINGS — It is New Year's Eve in Billings, Montana and the weather is so nice you can see 70 miles, all the way to the Red Lodge ski runs in the Beartooth Mountains.
In fact, here in Billings, in the early afternoon we had 45 degrees with mostly sunny skies and a Southwest wind at 18 mph, which gave us a wind chill factor that feels like 37 degrees.
Around the rest of the state, we see a lot of 30s in Western Montana, but look at all the 40s, back here East of the divide.
On the threat board, we only have a Winter Weather Advisory that expires at 4 PM today for 2 to 4 inches snow around lookout pass in West central Montana.
The Doppler radar shows you that most of the snow seems to be congregating right now in the West central part of the state. But will that snow make its way into the Billings area?
Our High-Resolution forecast model says it'll spend most of the day, out in the West.
Then Friday, we see mostly sunny skies throughout much of the day but maybe on Saturday morning, with a few more clouds rolling in, we might start to see a little rain mixing with snow, about 10 a.m.
After that, we see mostly cloudy skies on Sunday. We will top out at 39 degrees at 6 p.m. tonight, then drop back down into the 20s in the morning and up to 42 degrees by 1:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.
We will top out at 44 on Friday, then zoom up into the 50s on Sunday and Monday. Then it's back to the mid-40s on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and cool. West winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 27°.
NEW YEARS DAY: Mostly sunny and mild. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 44°.
SATURDAY: Decreasing clouds, breezy and warmer. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 48°.
