BILLINGS — To quote Fred Rogers, "It's a beautiful day in our neighborhood." There is plenty of blue skies and a few clouds over the mountains and that's about all.
In the early afternoon, it is 61 degrees in Billings, under mostly sunny sky. The winds are out of the north at 20 mph gusting to 28 mph. We were expecting a breezy day today across the region.
Around the rest of the state, our temps were mostly into the 50s and 60s, with Billings one of the warmer spots at 61 degrees.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery tells the story Tuesday. A low-pressure cell coming out of southern Saskatchewan is pulling moisture across east-central Montana and pulling air out of the state.
While high pressure to the southwest is pushing air into the state. Billings is right in the middle and that's why we are so windy Tuesday. The high and the low are working together to create a rather breezy day across the southern part of the state.
The high-resolution forecast model shows we are expecting scattered rain showers in the eastern part of the state Tuesday, but the rest of Montana will enjoy mostly sunny skies.
It really isn't until 6 a.m. Wednesday that we start seeing more clouds roll in from the southwest, and a new weather system starts moving into the region, bringing heavy rainfall and breezy conditions Wednesday night.
As a low tracks across the state, it will pump rainfall into south-central Montana and then as it moves past Billings, we will get wrap0-around moisture, which will bring us another shot at some rainfall out of the same storm.
Our temps will remain in the 60s Tuesday afternoon and drop back down to the 40s in the morning and up to 65 degrees about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
We will top out at 70 degrees on Wednesday, then back down to 55 on Thursday, with rainfall and cold front, then back to the 50s and 60s for the rest of the weekend and into next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and a little cooler. East winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 37 degrees.
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny and warmer. East winds 5 to 15 mph.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 70% chance for rain showers and thunderstorms in the early evening. Then rain likely overnight and windy. Northwest winds 15 to 30 mph gusting to 55 mph. Low 42 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 70% chance for rain in the morning and windy. West winds 20 to 35 mph gusting to 50 mph. High 55 degrees.
