BILLINBGS — We're starting to get some low-level moisture move into the south-central Montana Friday afternoon, which could aid in developing bigger thunderstorms later in the evening.
However, in the meantime it is mostly cloudy and 69 degrees at 2 p.m. and the wind is calm. Around the rest of the state, our temps are mostly into the 60s and 70s except for Worland, Wyo., which is at 83 degrees.
Our thunderstorm outlook for Friday does show a marginal risk of severe storms from southwest Montana all the way across to the southeast corner of the state. We could even see thunderstorms on either side of that area.
And guess what, we get to do it all over again Saturday from the northwest corner of the state through Billings into east-central Wyoming, where there is a marginal risk of severe storms.
On Friday afternoon, the Doppler radar showed a few light rain showers from Bozeman toward Billings and north-central Wyoming.
Once the showers meet up with a low-level moisture in the heat of the day, it might be enough to cause these thunderstorms to grow and produce some big boomers.
However, we feel most will develop around the Beartooth Mountains and foothills. That can be seen on the high-resolution forecast model at 6 p.m.
Another band of showers moves into the state from the Great Basin area on Saturday evening. This also could produce another round of big thunderstorms.
After that, we will be looking at mostly sunny skies on Sunday, and that's when our temps will start to soar.
We will be in the 70s throughout the rest of the afternoon and drop back down to the 50s in the morning and back up to 75 degrees about 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
We will top out at 85 on Saturday up to 90 on Sunday, then roll it back into the 80s for the remainder of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Partly cloudy with a 20% chance for rain showers early in the evening. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Low 54 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer with a 20% chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. High 85 degrees.
SUNDAY: Partly sunny and very hot. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. High 90 degrees.
