Big, warmer changes are headed toward Big Sky Country. After being cool, showery and snowy in some places so far this May, the pattern is about to shift and the nicest weather settling in for the upcoming weekend. A ridge of high pressure out in the eastern Pacific has produced a north flow for Montana, leaving the state cool and unsettled. That ridge will propagate east with high pressure settling right over the northern Rockies for this weekend. Beginning Thursday you will likely notice the changes with sunny skies and highs in the 50s to around 60. Friday will be warmer with partly cloudy skies, but scattered thunderstorms will move through northern and eastern Montana through the afternoon and evening. That will be the last of the wet weather for a while, as high pressure builds right over Montana for the weekend. Saturday will be sunny, warm and dry with highs in the 60s and 70s. It gets even better for Mother’s Day with Sunday’s highs in the 70s and low 80s. Late in the day, a few isolated thunderstorms could develop, but most of the state will be dry for the entire weekend. While scattered thunderstorms and partly cloudy skies move back in for the start of next week, temperatures will remain warm. As the warmest weather of the year thus far moves in, mountain snow runoff will increase. Please be careful near fast and cold streams and creeks that will likely see a rise in water.
Have a great day.
Curtis Grevenitz
