Below normal water supply forecasted for Montana after low-snow winter

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

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 snow during March and early April, and a wet and cool spring, to keep the meager snow left from melting away too quickly and causing low river and streamflows through the growing season and likely drought.

But according to state and federal reports and presentations released during the past two weeks, the recovery the snowpack made in February and early March tapered off in the weeks since and hasn’t continued to the extent forecasters hoped.

“It’s not likely a full recovery to normal snowpack conditions will occur by May 1 this year across most of Montana,” Montana Snow Survey staff wrote in the April water supply forecast issued by the Natural Resources Conservation Service earlier this month.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/04/23/below-normal-water-supply-forecasted-for-montana-after-low-snow-winter/

[MontanaMama]

1. We had almost no snowpack here in Western MT.

I fear a bad wildfire season is on the horizon. We're hoping for a rainy spring.

[2naSalit]

2. Yup...

Been sayin' that all "winter". Tiny snow deposits have been coming the last few weeks so we actually look like we have a healthy snow pack but the river is really low and there isn't all that much up in the higher elevations. We'll probably burn down or get choked out, at least, this summer.

[jalan48]

3. My sister told me the water level in Flathead Lake has been dropping over the past few years.

Unfortunately, the MAGA crowd that infests the area doesn't believe in climate change.