BILLINGS — It has turned out to be another beautiful day in downtown Billings. You can still see some of the snow up in the Beartooths and some of the snow on the ski runs at Red Lodge from here.
Currently in Billings, it’s 71 degrees with sunny skies and a southwest wind at 14 mph.
Our current temps are mostly into the 40s in the far west at Kalispell and Missoula, 60s in the southwest and 70s on the eastern slopes of the Divide. We do see 76 at Jordan and 60s in the rest of the east.
Part of the reason it's so warm on the eastern slopes of the Divide is because they have some pretty strong downsloping winds gusting into the 40 mile-per-hour range. The downsloping winds compress the air that's already there and heats it up.
We have a high wind watch for the Rocky Mountain front on Wednesday morning through Thursday evening for winds there gusting to 70 mph.
But on Monday, the Doppler radar showed nothing but clear skies from one side of Montana to the other.
The high-resolution forecast model shows the same thing and will keep these warm conditions through Wednesday in south-central and eastern Montana.
However, on Wednesday morning a new system starts moving into western Montana and could produce scattered rain showers there and then track back up into southern Canada, and we remain comfortable for the rest of Wednesday.
It will be 64 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Monday. Then we cool back down the 47 in the morning and back up to 66 degrees by 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
We will top out at 71 on Tuesday and keep it in the 70s for Wednesday and then roll it back down into the 20s over the weekend with a chance of measurable snow.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear, breezy and mild. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Low 42 degrees.
TUESDAY: Sunny, breezy and continued warm. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 71 degrees.
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny, breezy and continued warm. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 71 degrees.
