Category Archives: News

Western Montana waters expected to rise fast, hard once snow melts

Flood Information, News, ,

Here’s the Missoulian’s take on the start of Spring runoff . . .

Western Montana’s flood season has a lot in common with the space shuttle Endeavour: It’ll be big when it goes, but the start date keeps getting postponed.

“Even though we’re losing some water in the (snow)pack, it’s not to the level we normally see,” National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist Marty Whitmore said Tuesday. “But when that snow comes off, it will come in a fairly quick time.”

By Tuesday morning, the region north of an imaginary line along Thompson Falls, Kalispell and Browning was seeing significant melting in the mountains. But below that all the way south to Dillon and Ennis, moisture was still accumulating from storms on Sunday and Monday.

Continue reading . . .

The melt is on; rivers and streams are rising

Flood Information, News, ,

From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

A trend of warmer weather will settle in over Western Montana this week and the deep mountain snowpack finally will start to melt, with rivers and streams expected to approach or exceed flood stage by the middle of next week.

The forecast calls for temperatures in the 60s or higher through Saturday, along with a chance of showers and thunderstorms during the latter part of the week.

“We just anticipate the melt to occur,” said Marty Whitmore, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula. “We’re going to see significant rises in creeks and small streams … Some of those are going to start coming out of their banks.”

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Feds agree to clear backlog of ESA requests; eco-group agrees to stop suing

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

A good write-up from today’s Missoulian . . .

A proposed settlement could unkink the backlog of 251 plants and animals awaiting attention from the federal Endangered Species Act, including Montana’s arctic grayling and sage grouse.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and WildEarth Guardians announced an agreement on Tuesday where the federal agency commits to clearing its candidate species list within five years, while the environmental group promises to stop suing the government for missing its legal action deadlines.

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Dust control planned on 42 miles of county roads

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Here’s another sign of Spring: an article about gravel road dust control. From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

The placement of a dust-control product on 42 miles of gravel roads in Flathead County is scheduled to begin around June 1.

County commissioners last week awarded a contract for the work to Montana Dust Control of Whitefish…

The county has budgeted $100,000 for the work; participating property owners along the involved roads share in the cost for another $100,000.

This year, for the first time, more county residents applied for the program than the county had budgeted funds for the work, county Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.

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Spring flooding expected with record snowpack; could see historic flood levels

Flood Information, News, , , , ,

The Flathead Beacon posted a good article today on the flood potential in the Flathead River Basin, including the latest forecast estimates. This one is recommended reading . . .

The National Weather Service reported last week that the snowpack in certain areas of the Flathead River Basin have reached historic levels, likely leading to flood or near-flood levels on the basin’s major rivers in May and June.

Ray Nickless, a hydrologist for NWS, said in a spring flooding report that some rivers, such as the Swan and the North Fork of the Flathead, are forecast to reach flood levels that could place them in the top five highest flood levels on record.

In the past three weeks, the Flathead has seen a significant increase in snowpack levels. The levels were at 141 percent of average on April 15, and recent data shows the Flathead now at 183 percent of average.

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“Flood Information” page updated with North Fork-specific information

Flood Information, News, Site Updates, , ,

We did a little shuck and jive at the National Weather Service site and put together a custom, North Fork-specific page displaying current and forecast river gauge data, as well as weekly forecast flood probabilities for the North Fork of the Flathead River. It is now the first link you encounter on the Flood Information page.

If you want to save a click, here is the direct link: Current and forecast river levels, North Fork Flathead River

“Flood Information” page now available

Flood Information, News, Site Updates, ,

According to our access logs, we are getting (ahem) inundated by searches for flood-related information. We can take a hint. Check out the navigation bar up there at the top of this page. The NFPA web site now has a dedicated Flood Information page containing links to such things as river levels, snowpack data and forecasts.

Truth be told, putting this together was a bit of a nuisance. At least three different federal agencies maintain relevant and sometimes overlapping information. The Flood Information page has a good set of starter links. We’ll add more as we find them.

Current and forecast river levels available online

Flood Information, News,

For those of you who wish to keep an eye on things, the National Weather Service has graphics displaying current and forecast river levels available online.

If necessary, scroll down the page a little ways to see the North Fork data. There are three automated gauges on the North Fork Flathead: at the Canadian border, at Polebridge and at Columbia Falls. With exceptionally bad timing, the gauge at Polebridge is down right now, but presumably will be fixed fairly soon.

Link: WFO Missoula Composite Hydrograph Page

Flooding in Northern Rockies expected to start this week

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A warming trend later this week is expected to increase snowpack runoff and likely cause small stream flooding by Friday.

The Daily Inter Lake has the story . . .

The National Weather Service expects mountain snowpack to begin melting at a more rapid rate beginning Wednesday and extending through Friday, according to a weather outlook released Saturday afternoon.

A ridge of high pressure is forecast to bring warmer air to the Northern Rockies, increasing the likelihood that small streams and creeks will spill out of their banks by Friday.

The warmer weather system is expected to come on the heels of persistent rain and snowfall today and Monday at elevations above 6,000 feet, where snow levels are already well above historic averages.

Continue reading . . .