Weekend storms drops inches of rain, snow in western Montana; Glacier NP partially closed

The national park closures were limited to the east side of Glacier, where the heavy rainfall triggered park officials to close the entire Many Glacier Valley, including the campground and trails. The Many Glacier Hotel and Swiftcurrent Motor Inn were also closed and evacuated.

The weather also led officials to close the part of Going-to-the-Sun Road that runs from Avalanche to Jackson Glacier Outlook.

Glacier National Park will evaluate and re-open areas when conditions improve, a spokesperson said in a press release Monday. As of Tuesday afternoon, those parts of the park remain closed.

According to National Weather Service data, the northern Continental Divide, particularly around Glacier, saw the highest precipitation totals, as did the high-elevation parts of southwest Montana’s mountain ranges.

Since the precipitation moved into Montana on Friday morning, Badger Pass in the Bob Marshall Wilderness recorded the highest accumulation of 6.8 inches of precipitation. To the north, Goat Haunt Mountain in Glacier recorded 6.4 inches of precipitation.

Butte recorded 1.8 inches of rain at Bert Mooney Airport; Helena recorded 1.46 inches at the Helena Regional Airport; Missoula recorded 1.3 inches at the Missoula International Airport; Kalispell recorded 1.56 inches at Glacier Park International Airport and Great Falls recorded 2.91 inches at the Great Falls International Airport.

Multiple stations along the Rocky Mountain Front and the Lewis Range up into Glacier reported well over 4 inches of precipitation fell during the storm.

In southwest Montana, the SNOTEL site at Discovery Ski Area recorded 7 inches of snow through Sunday morning. At Darkhorse Lake’s station on the Montana-Idaho border, 21 inches of snow was reported. Twelve inches of snow was reported at Slagamelt Lakes, as was 16 inches of snow at Lemhi Ridge. Saddle Mountain just west of Lost Trail Pass reported 6 inches of snow, while some areas just north of Yellowstone National Park reported 3-5 inches of snow.

That precipitation in southwest Montana should be a boon for the area’s drought conditions. As of last week, most of the area was experiencing moderate or severe drought, while southern Beaverhead and Madison counties were in the midst of extreme drought conditions.

The rain in Butte and Ennis pushed the monthly precipitation for those locations above normal for June and the annual amount so far to near-normal. Dillon remains more than 2 ½ inches below its normal annual precipitation so far, however.

The short-term outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center shows above-average temperatures should be expected over the next two weeks across most of Montana, as well as near-normal precipitation.