721 FXUS65 KBYZ 300744 AFDBYZ Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Billings MT 1244 AM MST Tue Dec 30 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Gusty winds (35 to 55 mph) will continue over the foothills west of Billings through Wednesday. Minor travel impacts I-90 Livingston to Big Timber and US-191 Big Timber to Harlowton. - A generally quiet weather week ahead with above normal temperatures and mostly dry conditions. - Periods of light snow look to return to the south and west slopes of the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains from Friday into the weekend. Plains look to remain mostly dry. && .DISCUSSION... Today through Monday... Area will remain in a northwest flow regime between persistent troffing to the east and ridging to the west. Overall this pattern will provide downslope westerly winds resulting in well above normal temperatures and dry conditions for the lower elevations. An occasional disturbance dropping southeast out of W.Canada into the mean trof will clip far eastern zones, bringing slightly cooler air and a brief period of northerly winds, but little in the way of precipitation. The first of these disturbances is crossing the area this morning, but this one is very weak and mainly shows up as a weak pressure trof at the surface keeping winds stirred up over the western foothills. The next arrives early Wednesday and is a bit stronger, pushing temperatures over SE Montana down 5 degrees or so for Wednesday afternoon. Winds continue to trend well above guidance over the western foothills this morning. Upper level disturbance/surface trof moving through the area at this time should bring a peak in gusts before sunrise this morning for these areas, with lesser winds for the rest of the day. Winds will ramp back up toward current levels late this evening ahead of the next disturbance with gusts in the 40 to 55 mph range expected once again. Isolated gusts to around 60 mph can't be ruled out but remain in the 30% range so will continue to hold off on wind highlites at this time, but keep messaging the gusty winds for the Livingston (I-90), Big Timber and Harlowton (US-191) areas into Wednesday. Pacific moisture, courtesy of another atmospheric river impacting the west coast, will try to advect into the area by Friday and may persist into the weekend. Support for precipitation with this feature is minimal as there is mid level convergence over the area thanks to the broad trof to the east not moving. Subsidence produced by this convergence will keep the lower elevations mainly dry through the weekend. West facing mountain locations will see a better chance for light snow accumulations as the mid level moisture impacts those areas, however the latest model trends are for less snow overall with this moisture flux over the Northern Rockies. Highs over the next several days will range from the upper 40s to lower 50s west, and from the mid 30s to lower 40s east. Chambers .AVIATION... West/southwest winds will continue through the day today at KLVM, K6S0 and K3HT with gusts 30-45kts expected. VFR conditions will prevail. TS && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS... Tdy Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon ------------------------------------------------------- BIL 045 032/049 034/050 035/053 037/055 032/050 029/048 0/U 00/U 00/E 00/E 01/B 11/B 00/B LVM 045 030/051 032/050 035/051 037/052 032/046 028/046 0/N 00/N 01/E 10/B 12/R 11/B 01/B HDN 045 024/047 025/047 030/051 031/053 029/048 024/048 0/U 00/U 00/E 00/E 01/E 11/U 01/B MLS 039 023/038 022/039 024/042 027/047 029/045 024/044 0/U 00/U 00/B 00/E 00/B 11/B 00/B 4BQ 043 026/046 026/048 030/049 031/052 030/048 026/046 0/B 00/U 00/B 00/E 00/B 11/B 00/U BHK 038 021/036 018/038 018/041 024/047 025/045 021/042 0/U 00/U 00/B 00/E 00/B 11/B 00/U SHR 045 025/051 028/051 029/051 030/054 027/048 023/047 0/B 00/U 00/B 00/B 01/B 11/B 00/U && .BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MT...None. WY...None. && $$ weather.gov/billings