Five Feet High and Risin’

The National Weather Service says most of West Central Montana is going to see a dramatic rise in the water levels of creeks, streams and rivers over the next several days.  An abundance of snow in the mountains combined with warm temperatures is going accelerate snowmelt. Forecasters are sure smaller creeks will be going over their banks while streams and rivers will just be running very high. How much actual flooding might occur depends on how long the melt continues and at how high a rate.

The Flathead drainage is an area of real concern. Snowpack in the area around Kalispell is, in some case two to three times normal. Another thing to keep in mind is that a forecaster pointed out that the driest drainage was the Madison and their snow levels were at 136 % of average.

I took three pictures along the Clark Fork River in Missoula. I’ll be going back every day to approximately the same spot to see how water levels have changed.