BILLINGS — It is a beautiful Wednesday in the Billings area with a beautiful blue sky. The early afternoon temperatures were 47 degrees, and from there, wind up somewhere around 50 before the day is done.
Around the rest of the state, temps are mostly to the 30s on the western side of the mountains. Back here, east of the Divide, just about everybody's into the 40s except for Glasgow, and they are in the low 30s.
However, this mild weather will not last forever. We do see several more waves of moisture streaming in on a River of atmospheric moisture into the West Coast.
Right now, the Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows generally dry skies across most of eastern Montana. The jet stream is coming right out of the north from Canada and zips right into Wyoming.
Any storm that gets caught up in that will be pushed through fairly rapidly and leave not very much in the way of rain or snowfall.
The high-resolution forecast model agrees. We will see mostly sunny skies in the Billings area Wednesday afternoon and early evening.
It won't be until about midnight we start to see the next batch of snow make its way in into south-central Montana.
That snow will be through Billings and much of south-central Montana by Thursday morning and then for the rest of the day, we can enjoy mostly sunny skies.
By Friday, you see a few more clouds roll in and maybe a chance for some afternoon rain showers as another weather disturbance moves in on that river of moisture streaming in from the West Coast.
We will probably top out at 49 degrees next hour, then roll back down to the 30s in the morning and back up into the mid-40s Thursday afternoon.
In fact, we will top out at 45 degrees on Thursday then work our way up to 62 degrees on Saturday, then drop back into the 30s, at the beginning of next week with a chance of snow.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and evening, then a 60% chance of snow likely after midnight with freezing rain after 3 AM. Little or no snow accumulation is expected. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 30 degrees.
THURSDAY: Partly sunny with a 40% chance for snow in the morning then sunny skies in the afternoon and windy. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 45 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy, windy and warmer. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 54 degrees.
