Montana will need an extremely wet spring to avoid widespread drought once summer arrives. Scientists are skeptical that the needed moisture will arrive.
Almost 95% percent of Montana is abnormally dry this winter, according to data published Thursday by the National Drought Information System.
Nowhere is the problem more acute than the Upper Clark Fork Basin east of Missoula, where snowpack and precipitation are near their lowest levels since records began in 1979.
And the situation is unlikely to improve before summer, according to forecasts from scientists with the Montana Climate Office. The office recently shared projections suggesting many parts of the state won’t recover adequate moisture.
The scientists warn that could lead to water shortages affecting agriculture, fisheries, and recreation around the state.
-
Federal regulators last week said the Salish Kootenai Dam didn’t draw too much water out of Flathead Lake last summer. Some residents blamed the dam operator for the lake's historically low water levels.
-
Water is running in Browning, but should still be boiled for now, Blackfeet Water Director K. Webb Galbreath says. Firefighters Wednesday night quickly knocked down a blaze in the facility housing the Missoula Smokejumper Base.
-
Montana’s updated Drought Management Plan is now complete. Three years in the making, its ambitious goal is to build drought resilience across this semi-arid state. The plan’s authors describe it as a new way to proactively think about, respond and adapt to drought.
-
Federal officials from the U.S. and Canada plan to meet with Montana and British Columbia tribes over coal mining pollution. Selenium has for years flowed from B.C. coal mines into the transboundary Lake Koocanusa.
-
A multiyear project to restore a portion of central Montana’s Judith River is complete. Project collaborators hope the work will boost stream health and support the trout and insects that rely on the cold-water stream.
-
$327 million will flow to tribes with water rights settlements; The Chief of Operations for Montana FWP pleaded not guilty to a charge that he failed to obtain permission to cross private land while hunting.