Category Archives: Flood Information

Rivers may reach flood stage after warm weather, coming rainstorm

Flood Information, News, ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

What do you get when you add two warm weekend days, an expected 80-degree high temperature for Monday, and a rainstorm that is expected to move into western Montana late Monday and stay through Wednesday?

A good chance that the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Flathead rivers will be above flood stage by the middle to later half of the work week, said Corby Dickerson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula.

“One of the things that is really challenging in advance of these storms is to fully gauge the impact of the heating and precipitation on our flood models,” Dickerson said. “As far as actual numbers and how high the rivers will get there are still a lot of questions.”

“However, given the scenario and time of year, we are shaping up to see a substantial rise in the rivers across Western Montana.”

Continue reading . . .

North Fork forecast at flood stage by mid-week at Canadian border

Flood Information, News, ,

The National Weather Service tweaked their forecast river levels for the North Fork Flathead River. They now show it cresting just above flood stage for about a day at the Canadian border in the Tuesday-Wednesday time-frame. It’s hard to know what will happen at Polebridge — the gauge seems to be broken again — but the river should at least be pretty close to bank-full by mid-week.

Use the links on the “Flood Information” page to monitor the situation.

Warm temperatures through Monday expected to bring rivers up

Flood Information, News, ,

From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

The National Weather Service is holding to its forecast for higher temperatures this weekend and for Western Montana rivers and streams to rise sharply in the early part of next week.

Temperatures are expected to reach the lower 70s today and the upper 70s or lowers 80s by Sunday and Monday.

It will be “the warmest temperatures we’ve certainly seen this year,” meteorologist Bruce Bauck said. “It’s going to take a couple of days for this warm weather to start melting this snow … We should see the rivers starting to jump up pretty good in the early part of the week.”…

Across the Flathead River Basin, the snow water content at higher-elevation sites is 226 percent of normal….

Continue reading . . .

Related news: Balmy weekend ahead for Glacier

Snow melting, dams filling, floods feared in West

Environmental Issues, Flood Information, News, , ,

Here’s a pretty good overview of the potential flood situation in our corner of the the U.S. from today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

The giant concrete dams of the Pacific Northwest are overflowing with water. Wyoming has deployed National Guard troops to pile up sandbags. A federal official compares the impending situation to a bucking bull ready to storm out of his chute.

States across the West are bracing for major flooding in the coming weeks once a record mountain snowpack starts melting and sending water gushing into rivers, streams and low-lying communities. The catalyst will be warmer temperatures forecast for the next week that could set off a rapid thaw.

Continue reading . . .

Related article more specific to Montana: Schweitzer wants presidential disaster declaration

Flooding roller coaster ride continues

Flood Information, News,

It looks like the flooding roller coaster ride will continue, with river levels dropping for a short time and then rising again by the end of the week. This is reflected in the forecast river levels for the North Fork, which show a slight decrease for the next day or two followed by a steady rise to just at or above flood stage by the end of the week at Polebridge and the Canadian border.

From the Missoulian . . .

Rivers and streams in western Montana were in the recede mode Saturday as cool weather persisted and some expected precipitation failed to materialize…

With warmer weather and rain predicted by midweek, and a good stock of snow still waiting in the mountains, “we’ll probably have most of the rivers going right back up,” said Mark Loeffelbein of the National Weather Service in Missoula.

Continue reading . . .

Record rain but no real flooding yet in Flathead Valley

Flood Information, News, , ,

High altitude snowpack is still not melting and, in some places, still accumulating, keeping everyone in suspense. The Daily Inter Lake has a good summary of the situation . . .

Record precipitation was recorded in the Flathead Valley and at higher elevations Thursday, but cool weather is likely to halt snow melt and keep local rivers in check for now, according to the National Weather Service in Missoula.

The bad news is that record snowpack at higher elevations will have to melt eventually, creating a potential for serious flooding when higher temperatures arrive in June, Weather Service Meteorologist Bruce Bauck said.

Continue reading . . .

(Note: if you want to keep an eye on high altitude snow depth, check out the “Flathead River Basin” section at the Montana SNOTEL data summary link on the Flood Information page.)

Cold weather expected, river levels to drop temporarily

Flood Information, News, , ,

Well, cripes, now the Weather Service is saying that the weather system moving in is cold enough that river levels may actually drop a little for the next few days, even though we’ll be seeing some rain initially. The Flathead Beacon has the story . . .

Cold weather and rain hitting the Flathead in the next 24 hours and running through the weekend should slow down snowmelt in the mountains, leading to temporarily decreased river flows in the valley.

According to Chris Gibson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula, the Flathead can expect some “big changes” coming in the weather, including winter weather advisories for parts of the state.

Continue reading . . .

Rain this week, with flooding likely to follow

Flood Information, News, , ,

Rain and warmer temperature should bring river levels up across the area by the end of the week. Today’s Daily Inter Lake has a good write-up . . .

A mixed bag of weather is expected to push rivers across Western Montana, including the Flathead River, to flood stage this week.

The National Weather Service in Missoula is forecasting light rain, about a quarter inch, hitting Northwest Montana Monday night and today, followed by a dry Wednesday with temperatures in the 70s.

Then the region is expected to get about an inch of rain on Thursday. The chance of heavy rain on Thursday is listed at 100 percent by the Weather Service.

All Flathead Valley rivers are expected to see higher flows through the week.

Continue reading . . .

Main-stem rivers in western Montana could reach flood stage this week

Flood Information, News, , ,

It looks like this would be a good time to start keeping a close eye on the hydrological forecast. The National Weather Service is expecting a steady rise in river and stream levels throughout the week. Here’s the latest write-up from the Missoulian . . .

The National Weather Service cautioned western Montanans this morning to be on alert for rising river and stream flows through midweek.

“Recent warm daytime temperatures and mild overnight temperatures have resulted in a resurgence of snowmelt being added to already swollen rivers and streams,” the Weather Service’s latest hydrologic outlook said.

“In addition, a low pressure system will affect the northern Rockies beginning late Monday through Wednesday. This weather system could deliver rainfall amounts ranging from 0.25 inches to 0.75 inches across western Montana.

Continue reading . . .

Weather Service drops flood watch; warning still in effect for Stillwater River

Flood Information, News, ,

The National Weather Service has dropped the flood watch for areas in northwest Montana, but a flood warning for the Stillwater River near Kalispell is still in effect. According to this morning’s forecast, “the river will remain steady at elevated levels before slowly rising again for beginning of the work week. Additional rises may be possible thereafter.”