A HIGH WIND WARNING is in effect for a lot of northeastern Montana until 6am Wednesday. Sustained wind speeds are going to be between 30 and 40 mph, and wind gusts up to 65 mph are possible.
A RED FLAG WARNING is in effect for portions of northeastern Montana until 9pm Tuesday. The combination of strong winds and low relative humidity will allow any new fire starts to spread rapidly.
It was a very windy day on Tuesday as peak wind gusts were over 50 mph in most locations. As we go through Tuesday evening and night, the wind is going to gradually diminish from west to east. The one exception to this will be along the Rocky Mountain Front where the wind is going to begin to increase again early tomorrow morning.
For tomorrow and Thursday, the wind is not going to be as strong as it was today, but we are still going to be dealing with gusty winds in a lot of locations as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 30 mph, and wind gusts over 40 mph are going to be possible at times. This wind is also going to be coming out of the west or southwest in most locations.
Tonight, we are going to have partly cloudy to mostly clear skies with a few showers around in northeastern Montana, generally during the evening. It is also going to be cool tonight as lows are going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low to mid 40s in most locations. We are then going to have partly cloudy skies tomorrow with a couple isolated showers around. It is also going to be warmer tomorrow than it was today as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 60s and low 70s.
Lots of sunshine and dry conditions are then expected on Thursday and Friday as high pressure is going to be in control of our weather. It is also going to be pretty warm on these two days for this time of year as highs are going to be in the 70s and low 80s on Thursday and the mid to upper 60s and low to mid 70s on Friday. It is also going to be a little breezy on Friday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 5 and 20 mph.
For this weekend, we are going to have partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies and dry conditions on Saturday, and mostly cloudy skies with a chance of showers during the evening on Sunday as the next storm system begins to approach our area. It is also going to be cooler this weekend than it is going to be for the end of the work week as highs are going to be in the 60s and upper 50s in most locations.
There are then going to be scattered rain and mountain snow/rain showers around on Monday as a storm system passes through our area. It is also going to be a lot cooler on Monday than it is going to be this weekend as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 40s and low to mid 50s.
Another round of scattered showers is then expected on Tuesday as the next storm system begins to impact our area. The precipitation on Tuesday is generally going to be in the form of rain in the lower elevations, but some snow may mix in at times. In the mountains, the precipitation is going to be in the form of snow. It is also going to be chilly on Tuesday as highs are going to be in the 40s in most locations.
