BILLINGS — Another round of isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms is on tap for Friday afternoon and evening. Instability will be high but wind shear is expected to be low, so any storms that do develop will be slow-moving and effective rainmakers. Therefore, there is a Marginal Risk (1 of 4) for excessive rainfall and flash flooding across portions of central and western Montana and northwestern Wyoming. Meanwhile, western Montana should have just enough wind shear to warrant a Marginal Risk (1 of 5) for severe thunderstorms that could produce gusty winds and hail along with heavy rainfall. Farther east, a few storms could turn strong, but are expected to remain below severe limits.
While daily rain chances will persist across the weekend and into next week, Sunday and Monday will offer a brief drying trend as a cold front is forecast to knock atmospheric moisture back down to normal levels, largely confining showers and thunderstorms to the mountains and foothills. But the drying trend is expected to be short-lived, and above-normal moisture is anticipated to return to the region on Tuesday and linger through the second half of the week, bringing widespread daily precipitation chances back to most of the area by the middle of next week.
Daytime highs will be mainly in the low to mid-90s on Friday, mid-90s to around 100° Saturday, mid to upper 90s Sunday, low 90s Monday, mid-80s to low 90s Tuesday, then upper 80s to low 90s Wednesday.
Miller Robson
Q2 Morning Meteorologist
miller.robson@ktvq.com
