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Poor Snowpack to Slow Filling of Flathead Lake

By Beacon Staff

Officials with PPL Montana say the low mountain snowpack makes it “questionable” whether Flathead Lake will refill to its full-pool elevation of 2,893 feet by June 15.

But it should be close.

PPL Montana, which operates Kerr Dam, says taking into consideration the projected runoff and the minimum outflows required, the lake should reach 2,892.2 feet by June 15 and 2,892.85 feet by June 30.

Representatives from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, PPL Montana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bonneville Power Administration conferred on the current conditions on April 12 and will meet again next month.

The April runoff forecast for Flathead Lake is 66 percent of average.