Hungry Horse Dam saw more than a foot of rain in October

The Hungry Horse Dam saw more than a foot of rain in October, shattering the previous monthly total of 7.34 inches set back in 1995, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. In fact, it was the wettest month ever recorded at the dam, wetter than the historic flood of 1964.

The previous wettest month was November, 1973, when the dam recorded 10.84 inches of precipitation, National Weather Service meteorologist Corvy Dickerson said.

Records at the dam date back to 1947, he noted.

In West Glacier, there was 10.6 inches of rain for October, breaking the previous wettest month of 8.21 inches in December 1964. It was the wettest October by more than four inches. The previous mark was set in June 2012, when there was 7.9 inches of rain, Dickerson noted.

In Kalispell, at the Glacier Park International Airport, a new record was set for October, with 4.86 inches of rain. The previous record was 3.4 inches in 1914.

Fortunately, Dickerson said, the ground was very dry when the rains started and streams were low. There also was little snow in the mountains to melt, he noted. The wet month was caused by a higher than normal typhoon and tropical storm cycle in the Pacific, he said. Those storms meant a parade of rain systems for the Flathead Valley.

Most of the time, the rain was steady in nature, which also reduced the threat of flooding, Dickerson noted.

West Glacier had just three days in October when it didn’t see at least a trace of rain. The dam had seven days where it didn’t see a trace.

The weather should transition to a ridge of high pressure this week, which could lead to dense fog. November should start out a bit drier, but the long-range forecast is calling for a weak La Nina in the Pacific, which usually means a wetter winter overall.