The above on demand STORMTracker video forecast will walk you through the changes in the current weather pattern as a cold front will hit SW Montana Tuesday afternoon with Chief Meteorologist Mike Heard.
Storm Prediction Center day 2 convective (thunderstorm) outlook has a "Slight" risk for a few damaging thunderstorms in areas highlighted in yellow above. Some storms could produce damaging wind gusts and/or damaging hail Tuesday afternoon.
Although a small part of SW Montana is included in the "Slight" risk region most of our forecast models show storms will be born over nearby mountain ranges and as the lift to the NE these storms will likely reach maturity in central and eastern counties.
City by City Forecast:
BOZEMAN: LOW: 58°; HIGH TUESDAY: 90°. SW flow aloft is pushing more summertime heat up into Bozeman with max temperatures reaching the 90s Monday and again Tuesday. A few mainly mountain pop-up rumbles could develop Monday afternoon. There is considerable wildfire smoke producing hazy skies over Bozeman and that trend will continue into Monday evening. Tuesday ahead of a cold front look for late afternoon thunderstorms to develop.
BUTTE: LOW: 57°; HIGH TUESDAY: 88°. Hot, hazy and windy for Butte over the next 24 hours. A mostly dry cold front will push through Tuesday afternoon and produce increasing surface winds with possible gusts over 30 mph. Storm chances are very low with this front but cooling temperatures behind the front heading into Wednesday.
DILLON: LOW: 57°; HIGH TUESDAY: 91°. Hot, dry and hazy for Dillon Monday afternoon and evening. Look for increasing surface winds with a dry cold front by Tuesday afternoon and possible gusts up to or over 30 mph.
WEST YELLOWSTONE: LOW: 48°; HIGH TUESDAY: 81°. A few mountain rumbles could develop Monday afternoon mostly North of West Yellowstone. A dry cold front will clip your area Tuesday afternoon and ahead of this front look for 80s for highs Tuesday but slip down into the upper 70s behind the front by Wednesday.
NEXT WEATHER MAKER:
Classic summertime weather pattern is dominated by a strong blocking High pressure ridge that produces hot and dry weather across much of the western half of the country including Montana. Pacific storms as they roll inland climb up and over this ridge pattern from time to time and drop a mostly dry cold front through Montana. This will be the pattern Tuesday. Ahead of this front look for temperatures to shoot up into the 90s Tuesday but fall down into the 70s or 80s Wednesday. Subtropical moisture could jump up in front of this cold front producing scattered thunderstorms mostly over central and eastern counties of Montana Tuesday afternoon.
