WEATHER DISCUSSION: It was another day of mainly dry conditions and warm temperatures. Most areas saw temperatures in the mid to upper-70s and 80s today, which is around average for this time of year. Expect low temperatures tonight in the mid to upper-40s and 50s with partly cloudy/mostly clear skies and 5 to 10 mph winds with gusts up to 20 mph.
Watch - Brianna delivers the full forecast:
Smoke from regional wildfires will continue to cause some hazy and overcast conditions at times through the rest of the weekend, especially for Western and Southwestern portions of the state. Some late night and early morning low visibility and air quality reductions cannot be ruled out.
For Sunday, expect high temperatures once again in the upper-70s to low to upper 80s with mostly sunny to sunny skies. Winds will remain on the lighter side around 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph at times. Hazy conditions and smoke impacts will be likely mainly for areas along and south of the US highway 12 corridor.
Upper-level ridging will largely remain in control over the rest of the weekend and through the top of next week. This will maintain generally dry conditions for most of the region through the mid-week period. While there is some monsoonal moisture and weak disturbances, most of the sufficient moisture and instability will mainly affect Southwest Montana with the possibility for a few isolated showers or storms as early as Sunday evening.
This activity will increase daily as the week progresses and will begin to expand northward during the second half of the upcoming week. This, along with a trough deepening over the Pacific Northwest will send additional moisture and shortwaves into the Northern Rockies, creating some possibilities for Central/North Central MT to get some moisture heading towards next weekend.
Next week, temperatures warm some because of the ridge, but the increasing cloud cover and convective activity will mostly keep high temperatures from exceeding the 85 to 90-degree range and may even lower temperatures below average on Wednesday and Thursday.
