GREAT FALLS — It has been another active day of weather in Montana with scattered showers and thunderstorms, and some of the thunderstorms have been strong to low-end severe with heavy rainfall, large hail, and strong winds. There was a report of golf-ball sized hail west of Geyser and nickel-sized hail near Lewistown this afternoon.
There was also a landspout tornado north-northwest of Judith Gap and south of Buffalo in Judith Basin County earlier this afternoon. With this tornado occurring over a rural area, there was likely no damage to any structures.
Landspout tornadoes do not occur with supercell thunderstorms. Instead, they typically occur with developing thunderstorms that have no rotating updraft.
Rotation with landspout tornadoes will begin at the surface and then connect up to the thunderstorm, whereas rotation with typical tornadoes will begin in the thunderstorm and then connect to the ground. Landspouts are typically pretty weak, but can still cause damage.
Here is the weekend forecast:
Tomorrow will be drier than today was, but there will be some scattered showers and thunderstorms around once again, generally during the afternoon/evening and generally in/around the mountains and in eastern portions of north-central Montana. We are also going to have partly cloudy skies tomorrow with patchy morning fog in locations east of I-15. It is also going to be mild tomorrow as highs are going to be in the 70s and low 80s in most locations.
Really nice weather is expected on Sunday as we are going to have mostly sunny skies and mostly dry conditions (just a couple isolated showers/storms around). It is also going to be warm on Sunday as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 70s and low to mid 80s. The haze will also increase some as we go through Sunday as the next storm system approaches the state, with the thickest haze expected around Helena and in western portions of north-central Montana.
There are going to be scattered showers and some thunderstorms around on Monday and Tuesday as a storm system passes through our area. It is also going to be a lot cooler on these two days as highs are going to be in the 70s and mid to upper 60s. We are also going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies on these two days.
Mostly sunny skies and mainly dry conditions are then expected on Wednesday and Thursday as high pressure is going to be in control of our weather. Highs on these two days will be in the 70s and low 80s in most spots.
Another disturbance will then cool our temperatures down and bring a few showers/storms to our area next Friday.
