BILLINGS — The wildfire smoke from the west has been very problematic and, unfortunately, it looks to be sticking around for the foreseeable future, keeping skies hazy and occasionally lowering air quality and visibility.
Winds out of the east will keep pulling moisture into eastern areas over the next couple of days. There's a low chance for late day thunderstorms in eastern MT through Tuesday, but very little activity is expected due to weak instability. Any storms that do develop could produce lightning, potentially bringing an elevated risk of wildfire potential due to the very dry conditions that exist across the region. Daytime highs will be in the mid-80s to mid-90s Monday and Tuesday.
An incoming trough dropping into the Pacific Northwest midweek will shift upper level winds to the southwest, opening the door for Pacific and monsoonal moisture that will boost shower and thunderstorm chances up to 30 to 70 percent from Wednesday evening through the end of the week. As ample atmospheric moisture is expected to exist, daily thunderstorms could also produce heavy rainfall as well as gusty winds through the weekend.
Temperatures will gradually cool down into the 80s on Wednesday and drop to the 70s and lower 80s Thursday through Sunday.
Nighttime lows will generally be in the 50s and 60s through the middle of the week, then cool to the 40s and 50s through the weekend.
Miller Robson
Q2 Morning Meteorologist
miller.robson@ktvq.com
