BILLINGS – Just looking at the I-cams, it looks like a pretty comfortable day out there with plenty of sunshine and just a few clouds around the mountains.
Temperatures are still into the mid 70s at 2 p.m. Monday.
It looks like it will be a fairly active week weather-wise. We will likely see areas of heavy rain in south-central Montana over the next few days.
We expect to see thunderstorms developing in the high terrain this afternoon and then sprout onto the central plains during the evening. We typically call these splash and dash.
At this point these thunderstorms are expected to be non-severe but they may contain brief periods of heavy rain which will add to our flooding woes.
The Doppler radar already shows widespread rain showers across western Montana, and one particular cell just south of Havre produced heavy rainfall.
In fact, we have a flash flood warning for Blaine, Hill and Chouteau counties. One-and-a-half to 3 inches of rain has already fallen in that area, and another 1 to 2 inches are expected.
The Big Hole River near Melrose is flooding now in southwestern Montana and the Clark fork and Bitterroot River’s are in flood watch right now.
The forecast shows scattered thundershowers across much of western Montana and some of that rain could make its way to the Billings area around 7:30 p.m.
Most of Tuesday will be dry until that evening when afternoon splash and dash showers develop and we see more evening thunderstorms.
Our temperature should remain in the mid-to upper 70s through most of the week and bump up into the 80s just in time for the weekend.
BILLINGS FORECAST
Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance for evening showers and thunderstorms. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 54 degrees.
Tuesday: Partly sunny with a slight chance for rain in the morning then a 40 percent chance for thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some storms may produce heavy rainfall. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph in the morning becoming northeasterly 5 to 15 mph in the afternoon. High 75 degrees.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with a 70 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms. North winds 5 to 10 mph. High 70 degrees.
