Record high temps expected in Billings, Livingston

An ice cream cone and a movie might be the ticket Sunday in Billings — the area is expecting record-high temperatures.

“It’s going to be exceptionally hot in comparison to what you may traditionally see,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Peter Matos, based in the Billings office.

Set in 2002, the all-time record for Billings is 108, and the forecast Sunday is 109, Matos said.

The sweltering blast appears to be limited to the Billings area and its neighbors — meteorologists forecast temps in Missoula and in the Flathead Valley to drench fewer bandanas.

Livingston will be sizzling. Matos said the forecast is for 107 on Sunday compared to the all-time record of 105, set in 1961.

He said Miles City is forecast to reach a sweltering 111, the same all-time high it set in 2012.

Typically, he said, highs in the area hover around 89 or 90 degrees.

“We haven’t seen a heatwave like this this summer yet,” Matos said.

He reminded people to not leave children or pets in cars — cars can reach lethal temperatures in just a few minutes. He also said people should check on vulnerable Montanans.

The driving factor with the heat is overnight lows aren’t dropping far enough to cool things off, Matos said. They might stay in the upper 70s from Sunday to Monday.

“So you’re really not getting that reprieve we would normally see across the area,” Matos said.

Glasgow could reach 103, and an extreme heat advisory is in place there. The Great Falls area also has heat advisories in place, with a high of 102 forecast Sunday in the Electric City.

The temperatures will cool off Monday and are forecast to stay in the 90s, although some places might continue to push 100, he said.

The other side of the state looks relatively balmy by comparison — hotter than average but mostly not nipping at records.

Luke Robinson, meteorologist out of the National Weather Service in Missoula, said no records are forecast west of the Continental Divide this weekend, but people should still be careful.

In Missoula, the record high is 105, from 1953, and the forecast Sunday is for a high of 94, he said.

Temperatures will be hot in the Flathead area, in the low 90s in Polson and Lakeside, he said.

Butte might be the wild card, with a forecast of 93, not far off from a record high of 98.

“Be cautious when you’re outdoors this weekend. It’s going to be hot,” Robinson said.