Montana’s winter is shaping up to have been among the worst for snowpack in 25 years and, combined with current outlooks, has water forecasters warning that streamflow levels this summer could be well below normal across most of the state. Early last month, Montana forecasters and water supply specialists said the state would need above-average […] The post Below normal water supply forecasted for Montana after low-snow winter appeared first on Daily Montanan.
While February moisture boosted snowpack levels across the state, March didn’t help much – except in southwest and southern parts of the state. However, recent rains have boosted precipitation in the Flathead basin, dumping 153% of the 1991-2020 average precipitation for the first week of April. The upper and lower Clark Fork basins also received significant boosts, and the Kootenai was at 91% for the first week.
At the beginning of January more than half of NRCS snow monitoring stations in Montana and surrounding river basins reported their lowest snowpack on record. The exception was the northern Flathead and Kootenai River basins in Montana where total monthly precipitation was near normal.