BILLINGS — On the Pryor Mountains just south of Billings, there was very little snow Thursday afternoon. The reason- warmer temperatures are to blame.
In fact, in Billings at 2 p.m., the temperature was 52 degrees with a light south wind about 8 mph.
Around the rest of the state, temperatures are mostly into the 40s and 50s. That has been melting a lot of the low-level snow. We still see a little bit of snow up in the higher elevations.
Now that the wind has gone, we have this to think about. The recent snow melt is starting to put a lot of water in some of our creeks, rivers and streams. In some cases, the ground is still frozen so it cannot absorb the fresh supply of water, and so it floods.
We have a Flood Advisory for Bighorn and Sheridan counties until 11:30 p.m. Saturday for snow melt in poor drainage areas.
We are seeing the same issue in Phillips and Valley counties along the Hi-Line near Glasgow.
However, on the Doppler radar and satellite imagery Thursday, we see no rainfall or snowfall moving in, just some mid-level clouds. Those clouds are forecast to drift across the high line and maybe bring a few clouds into the Billings area over the next couple of days.
But for the most part we are expecting mostly sunny skies across southern Montana for the rest of Thursday and through Friday.
However, on Saturday, a new cold front starts moving in from the northwest and could push its way into the Billings area by that evening producing scattered rain and snow showers and cooler temperatures as we head into Sunday.
Our temperatures will stay into the 50s Thursday afternoon, but then roll back down to the 40s by the morning and get back up into the low 60s Friday afternoon.
We will top out at 66 degrees on Friday, 64 on Saturday, then drop down to 42 for a high on Sunday, with the passage of the cold front. From there, we will work our way back up to 56 degrees by the middle part of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy and warmer. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 38 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph high 66 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and still warm. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 64 degrees.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 30% chance for rain in the evening and rain again overnight. Low 32 degrees.
