The rains that have been falling throughout western Montana so far pose no immediate danger of causing local rivers to overflow their banks.

Hydrologist with the National Weather Service Office in Missoula, Ray Nickless, said the chance of flooding is much greater in northwest Montana.

"In the Missoula area, things don't look too bad," Nickless said. "The problem we see is with the precipitation that's coming in tonight and tomorrow, and the effect it's going to have on small streams or overland runoff that might come up onto the highways in different areas up in northwest Montana. There's a little bit of ice in some locations that might break loose."

Nickless singled out U.S. Highway 2 as one roadway that might see some water from the upcoming rains.

"There might be some minor flooding issues in areas around Highway 2 that goes from West Glacier up through Marias Pass, just runoff coming onto the highway," he said. "We've seen that in the past up in that area."

Nickless said the recent valley rain has transitioned into a decent amount of mountain snow above the 5,000 foot level.

"It was snowing most of the day up around Lolo Pass and Lookout Pass," Nickless added. "Unfortunately, with this next slug of moisture will be raining on top of that snow, which will be good for the water equivalent, but quite a bit of it will melt off at the lower elevations."

 

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