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NEWS
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Sunset over the Badger-Two Medicine area. BEACON FILE PHOTO
Warm Weather Drives Record Snowmelt, Fuels
Fire Concerns
Kalispell’s average temperature in April was the third warmest on record
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
A familiar and troubling trend is re-emerging this spring as warm- er-than-average temperatures are driv- ing rapid snowmelt and fueling concerns for the approaching wild re season.
The average temperature in Kalis- pell last month was the third warmest on record dating back to 1900, accord- ingtotheNationalWeatherService.The average temperature in April was 49.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 5.7 degrees warmer than average. Only April 1934 and April 1930 were warmer since the agency began keeping records. In terms of daily high temperatures, April was the warmest on record with an average of 64.1 degrees.
April saw above-average precipita- tion in Kalispell, according to the NWS. A total of 1.58 inches fell last month, 0.34 more than normal.
May and June are typically the wet- test months of the year, and any mois- ture would certainly be welcome in this corner of the state, where drought is lin- gering from last year’s hot, dry spring and summer. Lake and Glacier counties are experiencing severe drought, accord- ing to the state’s drought monitor, while Flathead County is under an alert as “moderately dry.”
This latest seasonal weather is similar to a year ago, when spring was the warm- est and summer was the driest on record
in the Flathead Valley. The conditions helped fuel the region’s worst re season in over a decade.
This latest string of warm tempera- tures has taken a toll on Montana’s mountain snowpack, according to data from the USDA’s Natural Resources Con- servation Service.
Sunny and warm days overwhelmed cooler and wet periods during the month, causing snowmelt to begin ahead of schedule across the state.
“Snowpack peaked during the rst week of April in many of the state’s river basins,” said Lucas Zukiewicz, NRCS water supply specialist. “This year’s peak was weeks earlier than average.”
At 14 measurement locations west of the Continental Divide, the amount of snowmelt during April was the most on record. At 10 SNOTEL sites, April’s snow- melt was the second highest on record.
“When you look across the state, higher elevation snow measurement locations continue to have snowpack that is 45 to 95 percent of normal, while lower elevation sites melted by May 1,” Zukiewicz said.
The El Nino weather system is causing above average to record-breaking tem- peratures this spring, which is causing the snowpack to transition to melt one to three weeks earlier than normal. Fore- casts from the Climate Prediction Center indicate the warm weather will persist,
impacting the timing of snowmelt and the volumes of ows in the rivers and streams. The timing of runo is critical to water users in the state. The mountain snowpack is the largest reservoir in the state, typically holding water into late spring and summer. This year’s early runo means there will be less water in the system where reservoirs are not pres- ent, increasing the need for spring and
summerprecipitation.
The temperature and precipitation
also play key roles in the severity of re season. Recently, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said Montana could be faced with another bad re season due to lingering drought conditions and weather systems.
Last week DNRC Director John Tubbs and other wild re o cials briefed the governor’s o ce about the potential re season, predicting a normal sea- son across most of Montana. Dry con- ditions in the southwestern and north- western parts of the state could lead to heightened activity, though, according to o cials.
“Given that in a typical year, at least half of all res are human caused, we always put a lot of emphasis into remind- ing people to be careful when they’re camping and to be aware of re condi- tions and restrictions,” DNRC Spokes- person John Grassy said.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
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MAY 11, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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