Today's Forecast:
Southwest Montana will see a warm but increasingly unsettled day with a mix of sunshine, building afternoon clouds and isolated to scattered thunderstorms developing later today. While many valley locations stay dry for much of the afternoon, storms that develop may produce brief heavy rain, lightning and gusty outflow winds, especially near the mountains and along the Idaho border. Wildfire smoke and haze continue to impact air quality at times, particularly during the morning and evening hours in lower elevations. Outside of thunderstorms, afternoon west to northwest winds will increase between 10 and 20 mph in many areas.
BOZEMAN: High: 81; Low: 50. Mostly sunny skies this morning with increasing afternoon clouds and a slight chance of late-day showers or thunderstorms. Northwest winds increase to around 10 to 15 mph this afternoon, with higher gusts possible near thunderstorms. Areas of haze and smoke may continue to impact visibility and air quality at times. Partly cloudy skies continue tonight with mild overnight temperatures.
BUTTE: High: 76; Low: 45. Partly sunny skies with isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms possible, especially near surrounding mountain ranges. Northwest winds increase between 10 and 20 mph during the afternoon with occasional gusts over 20 mph possible. Gusty and erratic winds may accompany stronger thunderstorms later today. Cooler overnight temperatures return tonight under partly cloudy skies.
DILLON: High: 80; Low: 47. Mostly sunny and warm through the afternoon with isolated thunderstorms developing later today and this evening. West to northwest winds increase between 10 and 20 mph with occasional higher gusts possible in open areas. Stronger thunderstorms may briefly produce gusty winds and localized blowing dust. Partly cloudy tonight with mild overnight lows.
WEST YELLOWSTONE: High: 69; Low: 36. Partly sunny skies with scattered afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms expected. Southwest winds increase between 10 and 20 mph this afternoon with gusts near 25 mph possible at times. Brief heavy rain and gusty winds are possible near stronger storms. Cooler temperatures continue overnight with lingering clouds possible.
COOLER WITH SHOWERS THIS WEEKEND
Southwest Montana will remain in an unsettled weather pattern through the remainder of the week with daily chances for isolated to scattered afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures will gradually trend cooler heading into the weekend, with a more noticeable cool-down expected Saturday and Sunday along with increasing cloud cover and better chances for more widespread rainfall. The cooler and wetter weekend pattern should help limit fire weather concerns somewhat and may provide modest improvement to air quality across parts of the region.
