367
FXUS65 KBYZ 031008
AFDBYZ

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
308 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Slick roads may impact today`s morning commute. For the latest
  road conditions, visit 511mt.net (MT) or map.wyoroad.info (WY).

- Light snow lingers this morning over the mountains and foothills
  of southern Montana and northern Wyoming.

- Winds increase along the foothills west of Billings this evening
  into Thursday morning. Strongest around Livingston to Nye.

- Unsettled conditions continue Thursday into early next week.
  Next best chance of precipitation is Friday into Saturday
  (moderate chance). Periods of gusty to strong winds.

&&

.DISCUSSION...

Today through Tuesday...

Periods of light to moderate snow will continue over the north
facing slopes of the mountains and foothills in southern Montana
and northern Wyoming early this morning. Additionally, there
remains a slight chance of light snow over the plains early this
morning as a cold front drops through the region. Behind this cold
front, temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits
to low 20s. Therefore, any roads that are wet or slushy will
likely freeze and become slick. This may impact the morning
commute. By mid to late morning, downslope winds look to
redevelop, ending any remaining snow across the area. With the
clearing skies, look for temperatures to warm into the upper 20s
to mid 30s across much of the area. Over far eastern Montana,
temperatures will remain colder in the teens to low 20s.

This evening into Thursday morning, a strengthening surface
pressure gradient combined with increasing mid level winds will
allow surface winds to increase over the foothills west of
Billings. With this, the strongest winds are expected over the
common gap areas from Livingston to Nye. At this time, the chance
of seeing a 50 mph wind gust is 70 percent, but the chance of
seeing a 60 mph wind gust remains lower around 40 percent given
the more westerly component of the mid-level winds. Around Big
Timber to Harlowton, winds will be less, but gusts around 30 to 45
mph are still forecast. Looking a bit farther east, gusty winds
are also expected to develop out of the Bighorn Basin around the
Clarks Fork Yellowstone River valley and out of the Bighorn
Canyon. With the recent snow in these areas, wind gusts in the 20s
and 30s (mph), with locally higher gusts possible around Fort
Smith, may result in patchy blowing snow. This will depend mostly
on how warm it gets today in these areas, but current forecasts
are right around freezing. This may impact Highway 212 and 310
south of Rockvale.

Persistent northwesterly flow through the rest of this week into
next week keeps the weather forecast active with occasional
chances of precipitation and wind. Temperatures during this time
look to oscillate back and forth from above, to near, to below
normal as well with highs in 20s to 40s. As far as the
precipitation goes, our next best chance of more widespread
precipitation is Thursday into Saturday over the mountains (high
chance of precipitation) and Friday into Saturday over the lower
elevations (moderate chance of precipitation). With this,
uncertainty remains, but the pattern does favor periods of
moderate to high snow in the southwest mountains (Absaroka-
Beartooth and Crazy Mountains), mainly on southwest facing slopes.
Over the lower elevations, precipitation looks to come as a
rain/snow mix, but the uncertainty mostly remains in potential
rain/snow amounts. For wind, the periods of gap winds are expected
to continue over the foothills west of Billings through the
weekend. By early next week, ensembles suggest a pattern for
increasing strong winds may develop, however, uncertainty remains.
Will have to see how the upper level pattern trends over the
coming days. Arends

.AVIATION...

While snow is decreasing in coverage for much of southeastern MT,
a band of snow continues across the Beartooth foothills to the
Northern Bighorns. This is producing MVFR-IFR conditions for sites
such as KRED and KSHR, expect this to continue into the early
morning hours. Low ceilings will impact all terminals through much
of this morning as well, with MVFR conditions possible. Winds
will increase later tonight across the foothills west of Billings,
impacting KLVM-K6S0-K3HT for Thursday. Matos

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...

    Tdy Thu     Fri     Sat     Sun     Mon     Tue
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 030 019/037 026/037 024/036 024/040 031/044 032/049
    1/B 01/E    32/S    54/O    21/B    10/B    12/R
LVM 036 021/037 026/040 028/040 025/042 031/044 033/051
    1/B 03/S    43/S    85/O    21/N    21/N    13/O
HDN 028 012/037 025/038 021/035 019/039 025/044 026/048
    2/S 02/O    53/S    76/O    41/B    11/B    13/R
MLS 020 010/035 025/033 017/027 014/034 023/040 026/045
    0/B 01/E    41/E    52/S    21/B    10/B    12/R
4BQ 023 014/035 026/034 021/033 020/037 026/041 028/047
    2/B 00/B    31/B    32/S    21/B    00/B    12/R
BHK 015 003/034 021/032 012/026 010/033 018/039 021/042
    0/E 00/Q    30/E    42/S    21/B    10/B    12/O
SHR 030 012/039 021/038 019/038 019/042 023/045 023/050
    3/S 01/B    52/S    54/O    41/B    11/B    12/R

&&

.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 5 AM MST early this
      morning FOR ZONES 36-37-56>58-66-138-169-171.
WY...Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 5 AM MST early this
      morning FOR ZONES 198-199.

&&

$$
weather.gov/billings