BILLINGS – The first day of summer has brought wind and rain to the valleys and lowered the snow level down to 5,500 feet in the mountains.
Billings measured 0.34 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and there’s a lot more snow up in the Beartooth Mountains than this time Thursday.
Here the Billings area, the temperature is cool today, at 62 degrees in the early afternoon, with mostly cloudy skies.
Around the rest of the West, it is generally into the 40s and 50s for afternoon temperatures; others still have some low 60s in the Eastern edge of the state today, including Billings.
Our thunderstorm outlook for Friday does show a few isolated thundershowers across Montana. The big severe stuff has moved out of the area and into the Dakotas.
The only thing on the threat board is a Flood Watch until midnight tonight around Fort Peck Reservoir and the Glasgow area.
That region has already seen one to two inches of rain and they could get another one to two inches more over the next 24 hours.
All of this is thanks to an upper-level low-pressure cell that seems to be parked over the northeast corner of the state.
It is pulling in more moisture from the Great Plains and wrapping around the low-pressure cell and sending it right into northeastern Montana.
This low is forecast to move Northeast into southern Canada by Saturday and as it does it will start slinging a little more rainfall back down towards the Billings area Saturday morning.
Eventually by Sunday that low will dissipate in southern Canada and much of Montana will become mostly dry.
Temperatures will be slow to respond the next 24 hours but will eventually start working their way back up to the 80s by the end of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance for evening showers and thunderstorms. Then rain possible overnight. West winds 10 to 20 mph. Low 45 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance for rain in the morning and again in the afternoon. West winds 10 to 20 mph. High 67 degrees.
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny and a little bit warmer. West winds five to 15 mph. High 74 degrees.
