Weather Alerts for Montana

Recent Locations: Fountain Run, KY Scammon Bay, AK Marion, MT

1. Lake Wind Advisory for: Central and Southeast Phillips; Central and Southern Valley; Petroleum; Garfield; McCone

2. Winter Storm Warning for: Little Belt and Highwood Mountains; Gallatin and Madison County Mountains and Centennial Mountains

3. Winter Storm Watch for: Absaroka/Beartooth Mountains; Crazy Mountains

4. Winter Storm Watch for: Bighorn Canyon; Sheridan Foothills

5. Winter Storm Watch for: Custer; Fallon; Powder River; Carter

6. Winter Storm Watch for: Dawson; Prairie; Wibaux

7. Winter Storm Watch for: Pryor/Northern Bighorn Mountains; Northeast Bighorn Mountains

8. Winter Storm Watch for: Southern Big Horn

9. Winter Storm Watch for: Southern Rosebud

10. Winter Storm Watch for: Treasure; Northern Rosebud; Northern Big Horn; Northeastern Yellowstone; Southwestern Yellowstone

11. Winter Weather Advisory for: Big Belt, Bridger and Castle Mountains

12. Winter Weather Advisory for: Butte/Blackfoot Region

13. Winter Weather Advisory for: Cascade County below 5000ft; Judith Basin County and Judith Gap; Fergus County below 4500ft; Snowy and Judith Mountains

14. Winter Weather Advisory for: East Glacier Park Region

15. Winter Weather Advisory for: Potomac/Seeley Lake Region

16. Winter Weather Advisory for: Southern Rocky Mountain Front; Upper Blackfoot and MacDonald Pass; Elkhorn and Boulder Mountains; Northwest Beaverhead County

17. Winter Weather Advisory for: West Glacier Region

Want more detail? Get the Complete 7 Day and Night Detailed Forecast!

Current U.S. National Radar--Current

The Current National Weather Radar is shown below with a UTC Time (subtract 5 hours from UTC to get Eastern Time).

National Weather Forecast--Current

The Current National Weather Forecast and National Weather Map are shown below.

National Weather Forecast for Tomorrow

Tomorrow National Weather Forecast and Tomorrow National Weather Map are show below.

North America Water Vapor (Moisture)

This map shows recent moisture content over North America. Bright and colored areas show high moisture (ie, clouds); brown indicates very little moisture present; black indicates no moisture.

Weather Topic: What is Rain?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Rain

Rain Next Topic: Shelf Clouds

Precipitation in the form of water droplets is called rain. Rain generally has a tendency to fall with less intensity over a greater period of time, and when rainfall is more severe it is usually less sustained.

Rain is the most common form of precipitation and happens with greater frequency depending on the season and regional influences. Cities have been shown to have an observable effect on rainfall, due to an effect called the urban heat island. Compared to upwind, monthly rainfall between twenty and forty miles downwind of cities is 30% greater.

Next Topic: Shelf Clouds

Weather Topic: What is Sleet?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Sleet

Sleet Next Topic: Snow

Sleet is a form of precipitation in which small ice pellets are the primary components. These ice pellets are smaller and more translucent than hailstones, and harder than graupel. Sleet is caused by specific atmospheric conditions and therefore typically doesn't last for extended periods of time.

The condition which leads to sleet formation requires a warmer body of air to be wedged in between two sub-freezing bodies of air. When snow falls through a warmer layer of air it melts, and as it falls through the next sub-freezing body of air it freezes again, forming ice pellets known as sleet. In some cases, water droplets don't have time to freeze before reaching the surface and the result is freezing rain.

Next Topic: Snow