BILLINGS — It is actually a pretty Friday afternoon in Billings, Montana. However, we are anticipating dry thunderstorms to move into the area bringing high winds, lightning, but not very much in way of rainfall.
The air at the surface is very dry and any showers that fall into the region are expected to evaporate before they reach the ground. In the early afternoon, it's mostly sunny and 89 degrees in Billings with the humidity of 19%.
Around the rest the state our current temps are basically into the 70s and 80s out West, 80s and low 90s, back in the East. It probably won't be too long before Billings gets into the 90s.
We do see a new cold front moving into our area today, but that will move in later on and bring with it dry thunderstorms and cooler temperatures overnight.
Our high-resolution forecast model shows that we have a marginal risk of severe storms right in the central part of the state and Billings is right to the outer edge of it. Essentially, the storms will probably track around Billings.
Our first wave of showers moves in about 6:05 p.m. and should track right to the center part of Musselshell County and bring some heavy rain to Roundup.
From there, the cold front and showers move oh so slowly overnight and brings more rain to Miles City, Sydney and Minot North Dakota. Eventually those showers leave the state and we'll be left with sunny skies and windy conditions on Saturday afternoon.
The sunny skies will continue to extend into Sunday in Billings and our temperatures will be a little bit cooler, mostly in the 80s.
Tonight our temps will cool back down to the 40s, 50s and a few 60s with showers tracking across the area. On Saturday we're back to the 70s and 80s with clearing skies and plenty afternoon sunshine.
We will be at 93 degrees around 5:30 p.m. tonight and cool back down into the low 60s in the morning and back to the upper 70s. About 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
We will top out at 84 on Saturday, 86 on Sunday, 84 on Monday and back to the mid-90s as we head into midweek next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Partly cloudy with a 40% chance for showers and thunderstorms this evening. Then a chance of showers overnight. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 62°.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny, mild and dry. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 84°.
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny and continued mild. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. High 86°.
