There is going to continue to be widespread haze with some embedded areas of smoke around through Thursday morning in north-central and northeastern Montana. The air quality will generally be in the “moderate” category, but at times, the air quality may be “unhealthy for sensitive groups”. The haze/smoke will then gradually decrease as we go through Thursday.
There are going to be some scattered showers/storms around this evening and tonight. A couple of these storms may be severe with damaging winds (58+ mph) and/or large hail (1+” in diameter). We are also going to have partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures tonight as lows are going to be in the 50s and upper 40s in most locations. There is also going to be a bit of a breeze around tonight along the Hi-Line east of I-15 as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
For tomorrow, we are going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies with a few showers/storms around during the morning along the eastern half of the Hi-Line and some scattered showers/storms around during the afternoon/evening, generally in central Montana and in western portions of north-central Montana. Once again, a couple of these thunderstorms may turn severe with damaging winds and/or large hail being the main hazards. It is also going to be cooler tomorrow than it was today as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 70s and low to mid 80s.
There is also going to be a good breeze around tomorrow in eastern portions of north-central Montana (around/east of a line from Havre to Lewistown) as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 25 mph, and it is going to be a little breezy tomorrow in western portions of north-central Montana and around Helena as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 5 and 20 mph.
There are then going to be scattered showers and thunderstorms around tomorrow night and widespread showers/storms around on Thursday, especially in north-central Montana, as a stronger disturbance impacts through our area. We are also going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies on Thursday, with the cloud cover decreasing some during the afternoon/evening. Thursday is also going to be the coolest day of the next week in north-central Montana as highs are going to be in the 60s and low to mid 70s. Around Helena, it will continue to be mild on Thursday as highs are going to be in the 70s. It is also going to be breezy (10-20 mph) on Thursday along the eastern half of the Hi-Line.
More scattered showers and thunderstorms are then expected on Friday, generally during the PM hours, as another disturbance passes through our area. It is also going to be mild on Friday as highs are going to be in the 70s.
The active weather pattern will continue this weekend as we are going to have partly to mostly sunny skies with some scattered showers and thunderstorms around each day, mainly during the PM hours. It is also going to be mild/warm this weekend as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 70s and low 80s.
More of the same is expected for the beginning of next week as we are going to have partly cloudy skies with some scattered showers and thunderstorms around on both Monday and Tuesday. It is also going to continue to be mild early next week as highs are going to be in the 70s.
