It's Winter And Fire Remains a Danger
Watch your butts, sparks and flames
Due to the mild and dry conditions and number of spot requests the National Weather Service in Billings (NWS) is receiving, NWS will be issuing the Fire Weather Planning Forecast once a day for south central and southeastern Montana, and north central Wyoming until further notice.
Mild conditions will continue this week as a west/southwest flow prevails over the region. The higher elevations of the Absarokas/Beartooths will see periods of light snow (mainly west facing slopes) through Wednesday night (30-50% getting an inch of snow over the next few days). Minimum humidity values will remain above 50% across the districts. Westerly winds may increase in the foothills Thursday night and into the weekend with 25-40 mph gusts possible.
This pattern will continue into the weekend. Even warmer temperatures and dry conditions are expected next week. Westerly wind remains elevated over the Beartooth foothills this weekend and into next week.
Specific to the Beartooth Ranger District Custer National Forest:
Tuesday:
Mostly cloudy with maximum temperatures of 35-45 degrees at 5,000 feet elevation and 33-43 degrees at 7,000 feet. 24-hour trend: 2 degrees cooler.
Minimum humidity 48-58 percent at 5,000 feet and 51-61 percent at 7,000 feet. 24-hour trend: 3 percent wetter.
Winds:
Slope/valley.........West winds 5 to 15 mph in the morning
shifting to the southeast 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.Ridgetop.............West 5 to 10 mph.
Specific to the Crow Indian Reservation/Bighorn Canyon Recreational Area:
Tuesday:
Mostly sunny with maximum temperatures of 36-46 degrees at 5,000 feet elevation and 33-41 degrees at 7,000 feet. 24-hour trend: 8 degrees cooler.
Minimum humidity 48-58 percent at 5,000 feet and 45-55 percent at 7,000 feet. 24-hour trend: 2 percent drier.
Winds:
Slope/valley.........West winds 5 to 10 mph.
Ridgetop.............West 5 to 15 mph.
If you would like to look at the latest data you can find it HERE.