FXUS65 KBYZ 051202 AFDBYZ Area Forecast Discussion...Updated National Weather Service Billings MT 502 AM MST Thu Nov 5 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Patchy fog may bring reductions to visibility through early this morning. - Mainly dry this week with isolated mountain showers tonight into early Friday. - Winds increase over the mountains and foothills of south- central Montana Friday into Sunday. && .DISCUSSION... Next 7 Days.. Another morning of patchy fog is forecast across the CWA. The highest chance of seeing viability reductions wil be in low lying areas, river valleys, and locations that still remain moist after the early week precip. Isolated areas of fog are possible again Friday AM, especially in low lying areas in the Miles City area. An area of weak ridging will remain over the Northern Rockies for the next few days. This will keep skies mostly clear allowing for good diurnal swings, including highs above average. The normal high for this time of year in most of our population centers is around 50F, however highs in the upper 50s to low 60s will be commonplace for the foreseeable future. As a high amplitude ridge builds in Saturday and Sunday, some locations may even have a chance to touch some 70s and record highs. The most impactful weather to speak about is the potential for some breezy conditions in the western parts of our CWA late this week and into the weekend. A weak shortwave will push through Montana Friday which will come with mainly dry conditions. A few snow showers are possible in the mountains and a stray shower is possible near and west of Billings Friday AM. Otherwise, mostly clear skies and no accumulation is anticipated. What this wave will bring through is slightly higher 700mb wind speeds. The GFS and ECMWF both show the highest 700mb speeds in our forecast area over south-central MT, which are only being depicted in the 30s kts range. The RRFS has values even lower in the 20s kts. This could allow for some breezy conditions for Big Timber and Harlowton, but nothing like we so often experience this time of year. 30s to 40s mph gusts are possible Friday afternoon but gusts of 50+ mph seem very unlikely. Saturday morning, behind the weak wave, there is a signal that Livingston could turn on its gap winds. The GFS is showing delta-P values between IDA-LWT of 12-14 mb between 00z and 18z Saturday with the GFS Ensemble even keeping values in the 9-11mb range. Due to possibility of some high clouds, the surface inversion may not be super strong which could limit how strong the gap winds get. Local guidance is showing a 40-50% chance of wind gusts in the 50s around Sunrise Saturday so this will be something we will keep an eye on as more high-res models come in. Looking ahead to next week, it appears that the overall pattern for our region remains relatively quiet. Long range models do show more weak short waves pass near the our CWA but non of which seem to be more impactful than some breezy winds or a few showers. Overall, the strat of november is looking to be quite similar to what we saw most of October. WMR .AVIATION... 12Z update... VFR will prevail over the next 24 hours. Localized fog is possible in the river valleys...mainly over east central MT. This includes KMLS, KBHK where visibility may drop to under one mile. Any fog will lift after 15Z. In the SC MT foothills, westerly winds 15-30kts are possible at times today, including KLVM. BT && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS... Tdy Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed ------------------------------------------------------- BIL 056 034/054 040/060 039/065 038/056 038/061 041/062 0/U 00/U 00/U 00/B 00/B 00/B 00/U LVM 055 028/054 032/060 035/064 034/058 035/060 035/061 0/U 10/U 00/U 00/N 00/B 00/U 10/U HDN 055 031/055 032/062 032/067 034/057 033/062 034/064 0/U 00/U 00/U 00/B 00/B 00/B 00/U MLS 052 033/054 036/060 035/063 037/055 035/060 038/061 0/B 00/U 00/U 00/B 00/B 00/B 00/U 4BQ 060 034/056 035/062 036/067 038/057 036/063 038/064 0/B 00/B 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/B 00/U BHK 054 028/054 034/059 034/066 036/055 033/059 037/061 0/U 00/B 00/U 00/B 00/U 00/B 00/U SHR 058 029/055 027/062 030/068 032/058 032/062 033/065 0/B 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U && .BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MT...None. WY...None. && $$ weather.gov/billings