BILLINGS — The fall foliage is at its peak in the Billings area as the wind tries to blow the leaves off the trees Wednesday afternoon.
Our early afternoon temperature was 54 degrees with winds gusting to 40 mph, shaking our cameras in the Billings area.
Around the rest of the state, our temps are mostly into the 30s, 40s and some 50s, with Billings being one of the warmer spots at 54. Sheridan is at 55 and Worland is reporting 59 degrees.
We still have a Winter Weather Advisory for the Rocky Mountain front for 1 to 3 inches of snow in the passes that stays until midnight.
Plus, we have a High Wind Warning for south-central Montana until 6 p.m. for winds gusting 55 to 70 mph.
Right now, the Doppler radar shows the scattered rain and snow showers caught up in a strong northwesterly flow of air from Great Falls down to Billings and Sheridan.
In Billings, we have kind of a little backdoor cold front that's moving in from the northeast that will push up against the mountains later Wednesday evening and bring us a chance for rain mixing with snow.
Eventually, the cold air will continue to drop farther south and take most of the snow with it. Then by Friday afternoon, a new warm front moves through and starts warming things up.
That will be followed up with a cold front on Saturday, which could bring as much as 1 to 2 inches of snow in the grassy areas in Billings.
It will be 49 degrees at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, then we cool back down to the 30s in the morning and back up to 46 degrees by 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
We will top out at 49 degrees on Thursday, then up to 60 degrees on Friday and back down to the upper 30s and 40s for the weekend and the early part of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance for rain this evening, then a chance of rain and snow showers overnight and colder. We are expecting little or no snow accumulations. West winds 5 to 15 mph this evening. Low 34 degrees.
THURSDAY: Partly sunny with a 30% chance for snow showers in the early morning then rain showers in the afternoon. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph. High 49 degrees.
FRIDAY: Partly sunny. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph the morning increasing to westerly a team to 25 mph in the afternoon. High 60 degrees.
