BILLINGS — Welcome to the day after the big snowstorm. The sky is clear, the rooftops are white and the snow on the streets is starting to melt making travel a little easier in Billings.
If you were to open the record books Tuesday morning, this is what you would see: Billings with a record of 1 degree above zero with a lot of sub-zeros toward the southwest and along the Hi-Line.
But now, look at reported low temperatures for the day.
We have broken records in Billings, Livingston, Bozeman, Butte, Dillon and Great Falls.
However, most of our record low temperatures have made it to the other side of zero Tuesday and are slowly warming their way back up into the teens and 20s.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows a few scattered snow showers around the Glasgow area. Other than that, colder air continues to nosedive down toward the southwest corner of the state.
The high-resolution forecast model shows the snow along the Hi-Line will be moving away as high pressure continues to dominate our weather pattern in the Pacific Northwest.
Mostly sunny skies are expected again on Wednesday.
However, on Thursday, Halloween, a new cold front drops down from Canada, bringing a chance for more rain and snow showers, with most of it moving in late in the day.
Snowfall amounts for Billings and south-central Montana is expected to be light. However, Bozeman could see 1 to 2 inches of snow.
Our temperatures will continue to drop down to about 10 degrees in the morning but back up into the mid-to upper 20s by Wednesday afternoon.
In fact, we top out at 31 degrees and slowly work our way back up to 49 degrees by Sunday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly clear and continued cold. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 5 degrees.
WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph with subzero windchill factors in the morning. High 31 degrees.
THURSDAY: Increasing clouds, with a 20% chance for rain in the afternoon, possibly mixing with snow that evening. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 40 degrees.
