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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Larry Wilson’s column covers a lot of territory this week, including the progress of the spring thaw, planning for the upcoming fire season and, sadly, the passing of Ed Neneman’s father.