What the Snowpack Means for Our Montana Rivers This Spring

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Winter snows came a bit late this season, and many are worried that area rivers and streams may have less runoff for the spring.

I spoke with National Weather Service Meteorologist Travis Booth on Friday about the current condition of western Montana's mountain snowpack.

NWS Meteorologist Weighs in on Mountain Snowpack and Area Rivers

“Right now, our snowpack sits anywhere from 92 to 98 percent of normal across western Montana, so right about average for this date, as far as the snow water equivalent, meaning the amount of water that's in the snow pack,” began Booth. “As we look forward into the future, we kind of have a roller coaster of a pattern, a typical springtime pattern, with cool spells and warm spells and some precipitation mixed in at various times.”

How rapidly will the snowpack melt and affect area rivers and streams? Booth said we’re in a somewhat normal pattern for snowpack to start melting.

Booth said the Snowpack will be About Normal This Spring

“We're generally in the valley here, running slightly below average with our precipitation,” he said. “If we look back across the winter, even since the first of the year, overall, our normal high for today would be the mid-50s, which we're expecting temperatures similar. Then as we as we get toward early next week we’ll be back toward the 70's once again.”

Booth then referenced the snow totals up over 5,000 feet in elevation.

“We just kind of have a mixed bag, speaking about the snow pack,” he said. “If you look at the snow at elevations of, say, 5,000 to 6,000 feet, it's definitely starting to melt off. Visually, you can see that with the different SNOTEL instrumentation sites, you can see that as well, which is pretty normal for this time of year. For elevations that are above about 6,000 feet, the snow pack is likely increasing to plateauing, and that's about normal for the second or third week of April to get to that point where we start to see that melting in the snow pack and then it and then it tends to come off during the month of May into the early part of June.”

He said the Blackfoot and Upper Clark Fork Rivers Will Have Close to Normal Flows

Booth said Blackfoot and Upper Clark Fork River users will be a bit disappointed in the river flows, but it they will still be close to normal.

“One area that does stand out that is below normal for this time of year,” he said. “Unfortunately, it's a familiar area; the Blackfoot and the Upper Clark Fork (Rivers). Most of those river gauge sites are running below normal for this time of year, so pushing that into the future it'll just depend on how the rest of the spring and early summer unfolds. At this point, it looks to be close to normal as far as precipitation and temperatures are concerned looking out over a broad period of time.”

So, depending on the weather, Missoula’s rivers and streams will be running at normal or a little below normal levels this spring.