BILLINGS — At midweek, the sky is partly cloudy and a little dusty with high winds in the Billings area Wednesday. In the early afternoon, the temperature in Billings was 72 degrees with a west wind at 25 gusting to 32 mph.
Around the rest of the state, our temps were in the 50s out west with 60s and 70s across the east. Just about every location east of the Divide has winds gusting from 22 to 41 mph at 1:45 p.m.
The threat board still has a Winter Storm Watch for 10 -20 inches of snow Friday evening through Sunday evening for the Rocky Mountain front and parts of north-central Montana.
We still have High Wind Watches and Warning through Thursday for winds gusting 60 to 70 mph. Plus we have Red Flag Warning for increased fire risk Thursday in southwest Montana.
The Doppler radar and satellite shows a few high clouds and showers in the northwest. The high-resolution forecast model shows most of the moisture remains locked up in northwest Montana into Friday.
The GFS snowfall estimation computer model shows some snow will start moving into south-central Montana Saturday night. However, the big push blows into Billings on Sunday with 6 to 10 inches of snow.
It will be 63 degrees at 5 p.m. Wednesday night. Then we cool down to 49 degrees in the morning and up to 60 degrees by 1 p.m. Thursday.
We will top out at 73 on Thursday and then slowly cool down into the 30s in the early part of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and not as windy. West winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 47 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny warm and dry. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 73 degrees.
FRIDAY: Partly sunny and cooler. Southeast winds 5-15 mph. High 60 degrees.
