Temperatures suddenly drop by 40 degrees in one state as a storm approaches

In Baker, Montana, temperatures dropped nearly 40 degrees in just over 24 hours after a cold front swept through the region Tuesday night and brought stormy conditions on Wednesday.

The sudden drop in temperature came just a day after the same city broke the daily record on Tuesday when temperatures reached 95 degrees at around 1:11 p.m. On Wednesday at 3:49 p.m., the temperature was still 57 degrees, a temperature difference of 38 degrees.

“Yesterday, several daily records were set. Baker's high temperature of 95° surpassed the old record of 92° set in 2000, and Livingston's precipitation of 0.89″ tied the 1975 record,” according to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Billings, Montana. published to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday morning.

NWS meteorologist Logan Torgerson said Newsweek that the cold front that passed through on Tuesday brought with it a thunderstorm that led to a drop in temperature, while the low pressure system delivered heavy rainfall.

The storm has already dropped up to 8 inches of snow in the higher elevations of the Absaroka/Beartooth Mountains west of Baker. The storm also brought widespread precipitation throughout the region, although Baker only recorded 2 inches of rainfall. Other areas in the Billings forecast region, such as Park and Yellowstone counties, have already received more than 3 inches of rain, according to an NWS report. Torgerson said the storm produced “unusually high precipitation” for this time of year.

“Heavy, wet snowfall will occur. Additional snow accumulations of up to two inches. Highest accumulations above 9,000 feet. Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour,” said a winter storm warning for the region. “High elevation recreation will be impacted by heavy snow accumulations.”

The warning is expected to remain in effect until 6:00 p.m. Wednesday night.

In addition to the warning, several weather advisories are in effect for the Billings forecast area due to the storm, including a high wind warning, a flood warning, and several other alerts.

The normal high temperature in Baker this time of year is 23 degrees, Torgerson said, and temperatures are expected to return to normal “fairly quickly.”

“By tomorrow, temperatures in Baker will be around 21 degrees,” he added. “By Friday, they will be back above normal, just under 25 degrees, so almost 27 degrees.”

A temperature forecast for the next six to ten days released by the NWS Climate Prediction Center shows that above-average temperatures are expected across Montana from September 23 to 27. However, the probability of precipitation in Montana during the same period is below average.