Most of Montana will be bracing for strong, gusty winds, warm temperatures and heightened fire danger Friday and Saturday but National Weather Service forecasters say this is just a typical Montana winter.
"We are prone to see these warm, dry spells," says Joe Lester, Billings National Weather Service Meteorologist.
"We’ve been locked into this warm, weather pattern for a while but it is not anything that unprecedented or that unusual," he adds.
Lester says in winter Montana typically bounces between cold and snowy and warm and dry. Friday and Saturday it will be dry, windy and warm with increased fire danger. Then on Monday comes the bounce.
"It does look like our pattern will change next week, to something colder and wetter," he says.
What does this winter pattern portend for spring and summer? Lester says it’s just too early to know.