BILLINGS — It turned off to be another beautiful afternoon in Billings. The skies are clear, and the temperatures are warming up into the mid-40s.
Around the rest of the state, temps are mostly into the teens, 20s and low 30s in the northeast and 30s and 40s just about everywhere else in the state.
The threat board is starting to fill up. We still have a Winter Storm Warning for the Beartooth Mountains in Yellowstone National Park until 5 p.m. Friday.
Snowfall of 12 to 18 inches is possible on west-facing slopes with gusty winds to 45 mph, causing blowing and drifting snow.
In the rest of the west, it's almost like Winter Weather Advisory land with various amounts of snow expected to range anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of snow around Missoula area to 2 to 4 inches around the valleys by Great Falls.
Up in the mountains, we could see snowfall amounts range anywhere from 4 to 8 inches to all the way up to 14 inches in northwestern Montana.
Right now, the Doppler radar shows little batches of snowfall that started in the Crazy Mountains and pushed into the Beartooth Mountains.
They should follow the jet stream just to the south of Billings heading toward Sheridan.
The high-resolution forecast model shows those clear skies will continue through the early evening in Billings. Then by Friday morning, a fresh batch of moisture moves in and produces more rain and snow showers.
By Saturday, another batch of snow will move in, but it looks like most of it will stay north or south of Billings. Snowfall amounts are expected be very light at best in Billings.
We will top out at 41 degrees on Friday for high, then drop down into the 30s over the weekend and return to the 40s again on Wednesday of next week.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Turning mostly cloudy with a 30% chance for snow showers late. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Low 31 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 50% chance for snow in the morning rain and snow showers possible in the afternoon. West winds 15 to 25 mph. High 41 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 30% chance for snow in the morning then more snow in the afternoon. West winds 5 to 15 mph high 33 degrees.
