BUTTE — Despite a sky full of haze and smoke over southwest Montana on Thursday, we had enough hazy sunshine to have highs rise more than on Wednesday. With high pressure in control, we'll still have a mostly clear to clear night with haze and smoke. The dry and cloud-free air will allow us to cool rapidly down to the 40s and lower 50s Friday morning.
In the short term, our weather pattern won't change too much in the northern Rockies. We have a strong ridge well to our south, a trough over southern Canada, and that will keep our weather dry and warmer than average. That pattern will also, unfortunately, allow more smoke from the west into our sky. Highs will be in the upper 80s and lower to mid 90s both Friday and Saturday.
Our long term forecast won't change for a while, either. The ridge will remain to our south and the trough will stay over southern Canada. We will have a gradual cooling trend as we progress through next week, but it will be a modest drop in highs. There is a slight chance for rain showers by next Thursday, but there is a lot of time for that to change. Highs will remain mainly in the 80s and lower 90s.
