WEATHER DISCUSSION: Through this afternoon, North Central and Central Montana saw mostly dry conditions, sunny skies, and high temperatures that topped out in the mid to upper-70s and low to mid-80s. Tonight, expect mild low temperatures in the upper-40s and low to upper-50s with partly cloudy skies and 5 to 15 mph winds, gusts up to 40 mph along the Rocky Mountain Front.
A weak upper-level shortwave, an upper-level trough, and a surface cold front begin to move over the area this evening. Isolated showers and thunderstorms will affect mainly Southwestern Montana before coverage increases across North Central and Central MT tonight.
On Monday the upper-level trough remains over the area. This combined with the surface cold front will cool temperatures down to slightly below seasonal averages on Monday. Expect Monday to be the coolest day of the week next week, with high temperatures ranging in the 60s, 70s, and low-80s with partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies. During the morning, wind gusts could gust as high as 40 mph before slowly decreasing throughout the day. Widespread showers and isolated thunderstorms are also expected throughout the afternoon and evening.
On Tuesday, the upper-level trough remains over the region, bringing more showers to the area as temperatures remain around average. The showers will move out of the region by Tuesday evening. On Wednesday and Thursday, an upper-level ridge builds in, bringing more dry weather with temperatures warming up across the area. Friday through next weekend, cooler temperatures and precipitation chances are likely.
