According to this article posted late yesterday to the Missoulian’s web site, meteorologists continue to sound the alarm about the flood potential in Idaho and northwest Montana . . .

With no end in sight to western Montana’s unseasonably cool spring weather, the mountains are retaining a winter’s worth of heavy, water-loaded snowpack — and forecasters say more precipitation is on its way.

The delay to spring runoff can only forestall an inevitable flooding event, which meteorologists say is certain to hit all of western Montana and north-central Idaho. In the Flathead and Kootenai river basins, the flood season could be among the worst in recorded history.

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More warnings about possible flooding when this year’s massive snowpack starts melting off . . .

Local emergency response officials are urging residents of flood-prone areas to plan and prepare for potential flooding.

“Basically, what we’re telling people the best thing they can do to help responders is to be able to take care of themselves for 72 hours, to have a plan about what they will do in the event there is flooding that impacts their home or business,” said Cindy Mullaney, deputy director of the Flathead County Office of Emergency Services.

Based on well-above-average snowpack alone, the National Weather Service predicts most rivers and streams in Northwest Montana will approach or exceed flood stage.

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There are some pretty impressive numbers here. It’s looking more and more like flooding will be a significant issue this spring . . .

Snow keeps piling up in Glacier National Park and in mountain ranges across Northwest Montana at a time when the snowpack usually is diminishing.

Recent storms have delivered 8 inches of new snow at West Glacier and up to 18 inches at higher elevations in the park, causing trouble for park plowing crews that spent part of this week clearing previously plowed roads.

Automated snow measuring sites in the park usually record a decrease in snow water content by mid-April, but they are instead recording increases.

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Here’s the latest write-up on the flooding danger this spring. Even without any additional precipitation, there’s potential for problems . . .

An already abundant winter snowpack has continued to accumulate in the mountains across western Montana this past month, creating an even greater potential for flooding than predicted.

“We’ve got a lot of snow, and with that snow comes the potential for flooding,” said Ray Nickless, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula.

Nickless delivered his most recent flood forecasts during a conference call Thursday, predicting that nearly all the rivers and creeks in the Missoula, Flathead, Swan and Bitterroot valleys are likely to approach flood levels from this winter’s snowpack alone.

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Here are some up-to-date numbers on snowpack and expected stream runoff from today’s Missoulian . . .

Snowpack across the state of Montana remains above average, and spring runoff flows should be nearly twice what they were last spring.

Snowpack numbers statewide show 120 percent of average, and a whopping 185 percent of last year’s paltry snowpack . . .

Columbia River drainages – Kootenai, Flathead, Clark Fork and Bitterroot – range from 107 percent of average snowpack to a whopping 129 percent in the Flathead drainage.

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Looks like mud season is well under way, but flooding will likely hold off until May . . .

Western Montana snowpacks should hang onto their meltwater through most of April, but May and June could see some impressive runoff.

“We haven’t seen this kind of snow since ’97 in some of those drainages,” National Weather Service hydrologist Ray Nickless said during a conference call Thursday.

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