How Common is 50 Degree Weather in Billings in December?

How common are 50 degree days in Billings, Montana in December? More common than you might think. Plus, check out these wild temperature swings across Montana in the past week- nearly 100 degrees difference in Bozeman.

We went from temperatures in Montana at 50, 60, and 70 below zero across the state last week to the warm weather we are seeing this week topping 50 above in parts of the state. This came on the heels of a 30-day cold stretch in Montana as well. So after all that, people might be surprised to see 50 degrees above zero in Montana in December.

So how common is it? The National Weather Service Office in Billings did a Twitter poll Tuesday morning asking that very question:

I guessed 5 times, mainly because I know how wacky Montana weather is- and let's face it, Billings is known as "the banana belt of Montana" thanks to the sun enjoyed in the South Central part of the state.

Turns out I actually guessed right. Here's what NWS Billings shared Wednesday morning:

To answer a question we posed yesterday, #Billings hits 50° an average of 5 times in December. In January it's 4 times. It is completely normal to have warm spells in the middle of winter. You can thank the mountains for that. #mtwx #wywx #chinookwinds

NWS Billings also looked at the temperature swings we saw in the last week across the region:

Bozeman saw nearly a 100-degree temperature swing, as Jed Christoph with NBC Montana reports:

A friendly reminder: just because it's warmer, doesn't mean it is necessarily safer.