BILLINGS — On the last day of April, Billings is looking at mostly cloudy skies with a decent chance for some showers and thunderstorms, some of which could be severe. In the early afternoon, it was also cloudy and 70 degrees in Billings with a southwest wind at 12 mph.
Around the rest of the state, our temps are mostly to the 50s and 60s out West, but back in the East we are seeing mostly 70s and some places, like Havre and Jordan, are in the upper 70s.
However, our Thunderstorm Outlook for Thursday does show a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms in southwestern Montana extending eastward into the south-central part of the state. That margin risk does include Billings.
East of Billings, it's a non-severe threat of thunderstorms Thursday. Right now, the Doppler radar shows light scattered rain showers developing in the southwestern corner the state.
Those showers are forecast to follow the jet stream right on into the Billings area Thursday. All that is needed is a little more heat to get a little lift in the atmosphere, and we could see the showers turn into thunderstorms during the late afternoon.
In fact, that's what our high-resolution forecast model is suggesting Thursday. The big stuff will start making its way on a line from Cody through Billings into Winnett by 7 p.m.
After that, it looks like one more batch of rain moves into Billings at about 3 a.m. Friday. From there, most of the showers move on and we will be looking at mostly sunny skies the rest of Friday and again on Saturday.
The computer models suggest Billings could see maybe up to a half an inch of rain. Three quarters of an inch of rain is possible in Bozeman and half an inch at Livingston. Miles City could see a third of an inch.
We are expecting to get up to 77 degrees during the 2 p.m. hour, then cool back down to the 50s in the morning and back up to 63 degrees about 1:30 p.m. Friday.
We will top out at 67 on Friday up to 73 on Sunday and then roll back to 59 degrees on Monday and into the 60s on Tuesday and Wednesday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 70% chance for rain showers likely in a chance for thunderstorms in the evening, then rain showers again overnight. West winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 49 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny with a 20% chance for rain in the afternoon. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph. High 67 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny with a 20% chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. South winds 5 to 10 mph. High 71 degrees.
