BILLINGS — We are just now starting to see a little bit of blue sky, meaning that the snow is coming to an end for Thursday. However, in the early afternoon, we're still at 23 degrees with a few light flurries in the air and a northeast wind at 14 mph.
Around the rest of the state, our temps are mostly into the teens and 20s east of the Divide, but we do see some low 30s at Kalispell and Missoula out west.
The threat board is thinning out a little bit, but we still have a Winter Weather Advisory and a Winter Storm Warning in eastern Montana until 6 p.m. Thursday.
Snowfall amounts remain varied, but still, the big winners are around the Beartooth Mountains, where we could see up to two feet of snow. Also, 2 to 4 inches of snow is possible on the plains of eastern Montana.
In the meantime, a Winter Storm Watch has been issued for western Montana through Saturday night. Here we could see another heavy dose of snow move in from British Columbia and eventually push its way into the Billings area over the weekend.
The Doppler radar shows a few lingering snow showers around Billings. Glasgow and Great Falls, but for the most part, the big push of snow has moved into the Dakotas.
The high-resolution forecast model shows the snow showers in Montana will be winding down for Thursday and won't return until that next system starts moving in from British Columbia on Friday night.
That whole big storm will push over the entire southern part of the state on Saturday and exit on Sunday.
All of our computer snow estimates models show that Billings could pick up anywhere from 4 to 7 inches of snow out of this next event, this weekend.
It will be 25 degrees at 5 p.m. then cool back down to the teens by the morning and back up to 21 degrees, by noon on Friday.
We will top out at 26 on Friday, then roll back down the 15, for a high, on Sunday and then back up to 40 degrees on Wednesday, after the sun comes back out.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy and colder with patchy light fog in the evening. We could see some additional fog overnight too. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Low 10 degrees.
FRIDAY: Increasing clouds with areas of fog in the morning. Then a 20% chance for snow in the afternoon and a 90% chance for snow that night. Snow accumulations are possible Friday night. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. High 26 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 100% chance for snow. Snow amounts may be heavy at times in the morning. Accumulations are possible. North winds 10 to 20 mph. High 22 degrees.
