BILLINGS — On the Monday of Christmas week, the weather in Billings seems to be giving us a present.
We are looking at partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 40s and getting into the 50s across the region.
At 2 p.m., the temperatures are already warmed up into the 40s and 50s in central Montana, and only into the 20s and 30s on either end of the state.
We do have a Winter Weather Advisory for Beaverhead, Madison, Gallatin and Jefferson counties of southwestern Montana.
There we could see 3 to 6 inches of snow above the 6,000-foot level from 3 a.m. Tuesday until 10 p.m.
Along the Hi-Line, we do have a Dense Fog Advisory but that goes away later Monday afternoon as the sunlight start burning off the fog.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows the jet stream coming in the southwest and tracking toward the northeast.
Caught up in a jet stream right now is a minor weather disturbance between Missoula and Great Falls.
However, another disturbance has started moving in out of the Great Basin area and could have Billings in its sights.
We do see some scattered rain showers moving into south-central Montana and western and southern Yellowstone County at 6 p.m.
Then by Tuesday morning we look for more rain and snow mixed in Billings and Yellowstone County.
After awhile, that goes away and then Wednesday morning, we see another batch of snow move out of Wyoming and push up in the south-central Montana.
That snow starts moving in about 6:30 a.m. and sticks around for the afternoon. Snowfall is expected to be fairly light to moderate.
At this point in time, we are not expecting very much in way of accumulation.
Temperatures will continue get up into the 50s and roll back down to the 30s in the morning and possibly back up to the low 40s by Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, we will top out at 44 degrees then cool down the 38 degrees on Thursday and work our way back up to the mid-40s over the weekend.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Turning cloudy, and mild. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 31 degrees.
TUESDAY: Partly sunny and warmer. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph the morning shifting to the northeast in the afternoon. High 44 degres.
CHRISTMAS: Mostly cloudy with a 20% chance for snow in the morning. West winds 5 to 10 mph high 42 degrees.
