Colstrip, Montana Weather
Colstrip, Montana — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, aviation weather, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Colstrip, Rosebud County.
Flight conditions near Colstrip. Data source: locating…
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Colstrip.
About Colstrip, Montana
Colstrip rests in a vast, high prairie landscape where the sky seems to stretch to an impossible, cerulean infinity, its edges softened by the hazy breath of distance. It lies 90.6 miles east of Billings, MT (from Billings, MT: bearing 85°T), and is situated 18.2 miles north of Lame Deer. The terrain here is a study in muted earth tones, a rolling expanse of sagebrush and hardy grasses that ripple under the ceaseless wind, broken occasionally by the stark, angular silhouettes of distant buttes. Sunlight, when it breaks through the often-clear skies, possesses a peculiar, almost crystalline clarity, illuminating the fine dust that coats everything and lending a golden sheen to the weathered fences and the sparse clusters of buildings. The air itself carries a dry, clean scent, a mixture of sun-baked soil and the faint, sweet perfume of wild sage, a constant reminder of the immense, untamed spaces that surround Colstrip. This is a place born of ambition and earth-shaking industry, where the very ground beneath has been coaxed and coaxed again for its bounty. Colstrip's story is inextricably tied to the vast lignite coal seams that lie just beneath the surface, fueling the enormous power plants that hum with a steady, industrial heartbeat, their plumes of steam a constant, white calligraphy against the blue canvas of the sky. The economy, once solely reliant on the mines and the energy they produced, now grapples with transitions, its character shaped by generations who have worked the earth and by the lingering echoes of that deep, subterranean labor. Though the wildlands press in, offering a stark beauty, the human imprint is undeniable, a testament to a determined, pragmatic spirit that has carved a life from this challenging yet magnificent corner of Montana.
Live animated radar for Colstrip and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Colstrip, Rosebud County, Montana |
| Coordinates | 45.884162°N, 106.623637°W |
| Timezone | Mountain Time (America/Denver) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 59323 |
| Area Code | 406 |
| Page generated | July 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Colstrip, Montana Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Colstrip, Montana, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, real-time aviation weather (live METAR and TAF reports from the nearest reporting airport, with a modeled estimate shown when no station is in range), precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Colstrip includes coordinates 45.884162°N, 106.623637°W, situated in Rosebud County. ZIP code 59323. Telephone area code: 406. Timezone: Mountain Time (America/Denver).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. Aviation data is sourced from aviationweather.gov (NOAA), with a modeled estimate used where no nearby reporting station is available. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
