A FLOOD WATCH continues for parts of central Montana through Wednesday night.
A tremendous amount of rain has fallen and continues to fall for some areas, breaking records here late in summer. The Lewistown area is one location with record breaking rain, with Crystal Lake up in the Big Snowy Mountains now exceeding 6" of rain. This amount of rain will likely lead to flooding and possible washed out roads in the area. Heavy rain totals extend across north-central Montana with flooding possible there as well. The storm system will continue to move away through the night but not before up to another inch of rain falls in this area. Besides an isolated early morning shower, the storm will be clearing the state on Thursday. There still will be areas of flooding as the water drains down out of the mountains. Expect creeks and rivers to be running really high. Thursday will be mostly sunny, warmer and breezy. Highs will mainly be in the low to mid 70s. Some gusts out of the west could top 20-30mph. After all of this recent rain, a drier stretch will develop through the final days of summer into the first part of autumn. Friday will start out mostly sunny but a cold front will drop south from Canada through the afternoon and evening. This will create just a few isolated showers but a stronger west to northwest wind will develop, gusting higher than 30mph at times. Highs on Friday will be in the 60s and 70s. A cooler airmass will move in behind the front and some areas will be looking at a frost or a freeze on Friday night. Most of the state will have lows in the 30s, some of the normally colder spots may drop into the 20s. Saturday is the final day of summer and it should be a crisp, sunny day with highs in the 50s and 60s. Another frost or freeze is possible on Saturday night. Sunday, the first day of autumn will be warmer with highs in the 60s and 70s. There will be a nice, dry, sunny and warm stretch through the beginning of next week with some areas getting back into the 80s by Tuesday and Wednesday.
Drier weather is coming,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
