Montana Facing Below-Normal Snowpack; Counting on Rain to Keep Streams Flowing
By Tom Chandler on Apr 12, 2007 in News
Via MidCurrent comes this news of Montana’s poor snowpack. Though their numbers are better than California’s, it’s still not great news.
Interestingly, precipitation was 99% of normal, but warmer weather meant less snow — and less water “stored” in the mountains as snow.
From MidCurrent:
Although Montana has had plenty of rain this year, snowpack is running far below normal, and slow-melting snow is what keeps rivers and streams flowing throughout the summer trout season. “’Statewide, streamflow forecasts average 64 to 77 percent, and rain will be necessary to keep rivers and streams from falling to critically low flows,’ [Natural Resources Conservation Service water supply specialist Roy] Kaiser said.” Chris Peterson in the Hungry Horse News.
Read the entire article at: Hungry Horse News
Technorati Tags: fly fishing, montana, snowpack, drought
Alan Gregory | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
Everything I’ve read in recent weeks about climate change and precipitation indicates that many temperate regions of our tired old planet(oid) are in for similar patterns. The remaining wild brook trout streams here (in PA) are already in trouble from acid precip and mercury fallout.