WEATHER DISCUSSION: Another day of slightly below to right arouhd average temperatures to end the weekend off. Highs were in the low to upper 80’s with lows in the 50’s. For portions of North Central, expect mostly clear skies tonight while Central Montana will see mostly cloudy skies. You can also expect widespread haze. Isolated to scattered showers and storms will continue to decrease through the night where the best chances of development was south of the Lewistown to Helena line. Expect a drier night tonight and a dry Monday as well before gusty winds pick up again.
Westerly flow aloft returns on Monday with gusts up to 30 mph, low chances for precipitation, drier conditions, and elevated fire weather concerns. Another shortwave trough is expected to slide across the Northwest U.S. Tuesday, bringing more shower/thunderstorm chances. More moisture in the atmosphere will increase the chances for wetter thunderstorms while temperatures on Tuesday cool 5-10 degrees from the previous day, dropping temperatures to below normal.
After the upper-level trough moves off to the east Wednesday, upper-level ridging follows behind and builds in through the weekend. This will bring warmer and dry conditions. Most lower locations will have afternoon temperatures that reach into the low to mid 90s Thursday through Sunday with drier conditions.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear with lows in 50’s and 6 mph winds.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Widespread haze. Mostly clear to mostly cloudy with lows in 50’s and 5 to 10 mph winds.
MONDAY: Widespread haze. Mostly to partly sunny then partly cloudy with highs in 90’s and lows in upper 50’s/60’s. 10 to 20 mph winds with gusts up to 30 mph.
TUESDAY: Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy then partly cloudy with highs in 80’s and lows in 50’s. 10 to 20 mph winds with gusts up to 30 mph.
WEDNESDAY: Sunny then clear with highs in 80’s/90’s and lows in 50’s. 5 to 10 mph winds with gusts up to 20 mph.
THURSDAY: Sunny then mostly clear with highs in 90’s and lows in 50’s/60’s.
FRIDAY: Sunny then mostly clear with highs in 90’s and lows in 60’s.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny with highs in 90’s.
