Brianna Juneau delivers the full forecast - watch:
WEATHER DISCUSSION: Dry and mild conditions seen today persist tonight. While mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies were seen for much of today with above average temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s, expect partly cloudy skies tonight with low temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s. Winds will remain on the lighter side around 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
An upper-level ridge remains in charge of the region, producing dry conditions and continuing to push temperatures above average. On Saturday, deep mixing and the increased flow aloft will result in breezy to locally windy conditions developing in the afternoon while temperatures warm to near daily records at many lower elevation locations. Expect high temperatures in the low to upper 80’s and possibly 90’s for some eastern locations.
The combination of increasing mid-level moisture and instability will lead to the development of thunderstorms across SW MT, which will track northeast across central and North Central MT by Saturday afternoon and evening. Storm motion should be fairly quick on Saturday with available moisture keeping thunderstorm coverage scattered and precipitation pretty brief. The primary risk with tomorrow’s thunderstorms will be strong wind gusts.
Additional rounds of showers and thunderstorms move across the region Sunday as deeper and moisture moves through. Temperatures begin to cool on Sunday as well, but remain warmer than average mainly in the 70’s. Next week, temperatures cool even more into the 50’s by Tuesday with daily chances for some showers and thunderstorms.
