Category Archives: Flood Information

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

May 11, 2011Flood Information, Newsflood forecast, flooding, snowpacknfpa

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

May 11, 2011Flood Information, Newsflood forecast, flooding, snowpacknfpa

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.”

Continue reading . . .

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

May 9, 2011Flood Information, NewsFlathead Valley, flood forecast, flooding, North Fork Flathead River, river levels, snowpacknfpa

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.

Continue reading . . .

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

May 9, 2011Flood Information, News, Site Updatesflood forecast, flooding, North Fork Flathead River, river levelsnfpa

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

May 8, 2011Flood Information, News, Site Updatesflood forecast, flooding, river levelsnfpa

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

May 8, 2011Flood Information, Newsflooding, river levelsnfpa

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

National Weather Service says western Montana rivers will likely rise next week

May 6, 2011Flood Information, Newsflooding, snow depth, snowpacknfpa

In this week’s conference call, the National Weather Service continues to fret about the potential for flooding . . .

It may not be as soggy as the spring of 1997, but this year has potential for record floods in western Montana and the Idaho Panhandle.

“When we get those warmer temperatures next week, we’ll see those rivers start to react,” National Weather Service hydrologist Ray Nickless said on a Thursday conference call. “We’ll be seeing high water all the way through May and into June.”

Many parts of the northern Rocky Mountains have record-high snowpacks, and the ones that don’t nevertheless have kept the snow much longer than usual…

Continue reading . . .

Storm system adds to already-deep snowpack

May 3, 2011Flood Information, Newsflooding, snowpacknfpa

Snow at the higher elevations just keeps piling up. Here’s a report from the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Mountain snowpack continued to pile up over the weekend in Northwest Montana, the result of a storm system that arrived Friday.

Automated snow measuring sites across the region recorded snow water equivalents accelerating well above historic averages, largely because snow depths have been increasing at a time when they are normally decreasing.

Continue reading . . .

Local flooding threat continues to grow

April 29, 2011Flood Information, Newsflooding, snowpacknfpa

The Daily Inter Lake has a good write-up on yesterday’s National Weather Service briefing on the growing flood potential in the Flathead and surrounding areas. Short version: We’ll almost certainly see flooding and it will likely persist into June . . .

As the big chill continues, the snowpack across Western Montana and particularly in the Flathead River Basin persists along with continued forecasts for high flood potential.

In a Thursday briefing, the National Weather Service in Missoula maintained and in some cases upgraded its high-water forecasts for Northwest Montana rivers and streams.

Hydrologist Ray Nickless emphasized that the problem is that there has been little snowmelt in a snowpack that has actually gotten deeper in some areas through the month of April.

Continue reading . . .

National Weather Service predicts Flathead, Kootenai flooding

April 29, 2011Flood Information, Newsflooding, snowpacknfpa

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.

Continue reading . . .