Happy June and happy meterological summer! In the meteorological world, "summer" is the months of June, July and August.
The weather over the next few days will start to feel like summer as record heat moves throughout Montana. A few record highs will likely be set on Wednesday. Under sunny skies, afternoon temperatures will max out in the upper 80s and lower 90s.
The hottest day of this stretch will be Thursday. Highs will reach the 90s for most of the state, and a few towns in eastern Montana could come close to 100! That's scorching hot for early June. Many, many locations will set new record highs. A few isolated thunderstorms will fire in the western mountains in the afternoon and evening, and could potentially drift down over the adjacent lower elevations.
Friday will be another hot day with highs in the 80s and 90s. Afternoon thunderstorms will be scattered through the state. The timing of the developing storms and cloud cover will likely affect how many towns set record highs again. If the storms form a little earlier in the afternoon, high temperatures will not be as hot.
A cold front will move through on Saturday with thunderstorms in central and eastern Montana. It will not be "cold" behind the front, but temperatures will cool back into the 70s and 80s for highs in western and central areas. Eastern Montana will still reach the 90s to around 100. A strong west wind will develop behind the front, so fire danger will be an issue. Temperatures will cool back down into the 70s and 80s for much of the state with scattered thunderstorms from Sunday into early next week.
Stay cool!
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
