BILLINGS — On Friday afternoon in the Big Sky, that big sky is filled with smoke. Above that smoke, we see mostly sunny skies and about 70 degrees with a south wind at 7 mph.
Around the rest of the state, we see mostly 60s, but a few places in south-central Montana and northern Wyoming are in the 70s.
Plus, we also see plenty of smoke in the southern part of the state Friday. Our smoke forecast shows that smoke will stay with us throughout the afternoon. Then a fresh batch a smoke moves in on Saturday.
On Sunday, a strong cold front will move through and blow away most of that smoke. We will have smoke-free skies on Monday and Tuesday.
We also have a Red Flag Warning in effect for Saturday due to an increased wildfire risk. The warning starts at noon and lasts until 8 p.m. in northern and southwest Montana, 9 p.m. in southern Montana.
Plus, we also have a High Wind warning in west-central Montana around Butte, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday for winds gusting to 50 mph. This will be that strong cold front moving through the state on Saturday.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows generally dry conditions for Friday, just a few high clouds are rolling into the central part of the state.
The high-resolution forecast model shows we will continue to see mostly sunny skies throughout the rest of Friday into most of Saturday. However, that night we see a strong cold front move through with rain showers moving into the region.
Some of the showers will make their way into Yellowstone County, about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. After that, we will just see partly cloudy skies on Sunday afternoon. However, we could see more rain move in Monday.
It will be 73 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Friday, then we drop down to 50 degrees in the morning and back up to 77 degrees by 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
We will top out at 84 on Saturday, then roll it back down to the 50s on Sunday and Monday 60s on Tuesday and Wednesday and 57 degrees on Thursday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear but smoky. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Low 46 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 84 degrees.
SATURDAY NIGHT Mostly cloudy with a 50% chance for rain overnight. West winds 15 to 25 mph. Low 48 degrees.
SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 30% chance for rain showers in the morning. Then sunny skies in the afternoon and much colder. West winds 15 to 30 mph gusting to 40 mph with an occasional gust of 50 mph. High 56 degrees.
