<P> Billings is located at 45 ° 47 ′ 12" N 108 ° 32 ′ 14" W ﻿ / ﻿ 45.78667 ° N 108.53722 ° W ﻿ / 45.78667; - 108.53722 (45.786553, − 108.537139), with two - thirds of the city being in the Yellowstone Valley and the South Hills area and one - third being in the Heights - Lockwood area . The city is divided by the Rims, long cliffs, also called the Rimrocks . The Rims run to the north and east of the downtown core, separating it from the Heights to the north and Lockwood to the east, with the cliffs to the north being 500 feet (150 m) tall and to the east of downtown, the face rises 800 feet (240 m). Billings elevation is 3,126 feet above sea level . The Yellowstone River runs through the southeast portion of the city . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 43.52 square miles (112.72 km), of which, 43.41 square miles (112.43 km) is land and 0.11 square miles (0.28 km) is water . </P> <P> Around Billings, seven mountain ranges can be viewed . The Bighorn Mountains have over 200 lakes and two peaks that rise to over 13,000 feet (4,000 m): Cloud Peak (13,167 ft (4,013 m) and Black Tooth Mountain (13,005 ft (3,964 m). The Pryor Mountains directly south of Billings rise to a height of 8,822 feet and are unlike any other landscape in Montana . They are also home the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range . The Beartooth Mountains are the location of Granite Peak, which at 12,807 feet (3,904 m) is the highest point in the state of Montana . The Beartooth Highway, a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks along the Montana--Wyoming border, rises to 10,947 feet . It was called "the most beautiful drive in America" by Charles Kuralt . The Beartooth Mountains are just northeast of Yellowstone National Park . The Crazy Mountains to the west rise to a height of 11,209 feet at Crazy Peak, the tallest peak in the range . Big Snowy Mountains, with peaks of 8,600 feet, are home to Crystal Lake . The Bull Mountains are a low - lying heavily forested range north of Billings Heights . The Absaroka Range stretches about 150 mi (240 km) across the Montana - Wyoming border, and 75 miles at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park . </P> <P> Billings has a hot - summer humid continental climate, closely bordering on semi-arid (Köppen Dfa / BSk), with dry, hot summers, and cold, dry winters . In the summer, the temperature can rise to over 100 ° F or 37.8 ° C (1 to 3 times per year) while the winter will bring temperatures below 0 ° F or − 17.8 ° C on an average of 17 to 18 nights per year . The snowfall averages 55 inches or 1.40 metres a year, but because of warm chinook winds that pass through the region during the winter, snow does not usually accumulate heavily or remain on the ground for long: the greatest depth has been 33 inches or 0.84 metres on April 5, 1955, after a huge storm which dumped 4.22 inches or 107.2 millimetres of water equivalent precipitation as snow in the previous three days under temperatures averaging 26.7 ° F (− 2.9 ° C). </P> <P> The snowiest year on record was 2014 with 103.5 inches or 2.63 metres, topping the 1996 - 97 previous record of 98.9 inches or 2.51 metres . The first freeze of the season on average arrives by October 4 and the last is May 7 . Spring and autumn in Billings are usually mild, but brief . Winds, while strong at times, are considered light compared with the rest of Montana and the Rocky Mountain Front . </P>

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