More heat will be building up around a High pressure ridge Friday. Temperatures will be above normal across SW Montana Friday but a cooling trend will begin over the weekend. See the temperature swings in your on demand STORMTracker video forecast above with Chief Meteorologist Mike Heard.

DROUGHT WATCH THURSDAY

Current drought monitor shows very little drought development across Montana with only around 7% of the Northern counties reporting "Moderate" drought conditions.

Compare the above graphic (July 12th, 2018) to the graphic below (September 15, 2017)

Montana is in much better shape so far this summer than the "flash drought" from the summer of 2017.

City by City Forecast:

BOZEMAN: LOW: 54°; HIGH FRIDAY: 87°. Mostly clear tonight and cooling nicely down into the mid 50s Friday morning. However, look for a hot afternoon Friday with max temperatures trying to reach the lower 90s. 

BUTTE: LOW: 49°; HIGH FRIDAY: 88°. Clear and cool tonight for Butte. Friday we will be turning up the heat with a stronger SW flow aloft and could come close to 90°.

DILLON: LOW: 50°; HIGH FRIDAY: 90°. Classic summertime weather pattern for Dillon over the next 24 hours. Mostly dry, light winds, cool morning temperatures but hot afternoon highs.

WEST YELLOWSTONE: LOW: 43°; HIGH FRIDAY: 82°. There is some cumulus clouds forming over nearby mountain ranges near West Yellowstone Thursday afternoon and the chance those building clouds turn into thunderstorms looks remote at best. General forecast is dry, cool tonight and warm Friday.

 NEXT WEATHER MAKER: 

Summertime heat is building with a short lived High pressure ridge pattern and a SW flow aloft heading into Friday. Temperatures should spike into the upper 80s to mid 90s Friday. The next weather maker over the weekend will be a mostly dry cold front passage Saturday afternoon. Look for increasing surface winds Saturday into Sunday. Once we get behind the front a cooler NW flow aloft will drop into Montana and temperatures could fall down into the 70s by Sunday.