June snowpack is below normal in much of the stateE
Edward F. O'Brien
Snowpack across Montana is well below normal for early June and has dropped drastically since May 1.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service says snowpack in the Bitterroot basin melted especially rapidly.
One exception is the Bighorn Mountains, where June 1 snowpack was near to above normal.
Precipitation last month varied across the state and fell mostly as rain.
The Sun-Teton-Marias River basins are hurting for both snowpack and precipitation. They received just over half their normal monthly precipitation in May, and dropped to the lowest water year total on record.
Experts told Gov. Greg Gianforte earlier this week that ongoing drought and anticipated hotter-than-normal temperatures this summer could lead to a difficult wildfire season.
Heat and drought are stressing Great Falls' aging trees
Edward F. O'Brien
Many of the trees in Great Falls’ city limits are old. Really old.
According to City Forester Todd Seymanski, some of them date back to one of the city’s founders, Paris Gibson.
"Once he figured out how he wants the city to look like, he made sure there was tree-lined streets and trees in the parks,” Seymanski says.
Some of those original trees, including American Elm and Green Ash from eastern Montana are still around. They’ve been through a lot over the years including extreme weather events and insect infestation.
Some of the stressed-out trees over-produced seeds but haven’t yet leafed out this year.
"They used a lot of their reserves up to produce the seed," Seymanski says. "Also, they missed out now, because the leaf is the one that produces food. Even if we have a really good year, they’re going to be behind. They might not be able to pull through this.”
Weather experts anticipate a hotter and drier-than-normal summer which could add additional stressors on the trees in Great Falls.
Seymanski invites people with city trees in their yards or boulevards to water them whenever possible this summer. The best place to do that is under the outer edge of the branches. Fertilizer with a very low nitrogen count could also help bolster the trees’ health.
A lot’s at stake. Seymanski says losing those beautiful trees will, among other things, make the city feel even hotter in the summertime.
“Life’s always better in the shade of a tree.”
Flathead Lake managers say there's not enough water to fill the lake this year
Ellis Juhlin
The last three years have been the driest consecutive years ever recorded for the Flathead Basin. They’ve been characterized as abnormally hot and dry, leading to lower levels in Flathead Lake.
Energy Keeper’s Inc, a company owned and operated by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes reports the melted snow that remains in the mountains will not be enough to fill the lake to its full pool this year.
The company’s CEO, Brian Lipscomb, says the low levels have decreased electricity generation at the SKQ dam to ten percent below normal. Current forecasts predict the lake will reach this year’s high point by mid-June and then begin dropping.
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, higher temperatures as a result of human-caused climate change are worsening drought events across the Western U.S.
