Park plows are beyond Avalanche Creek; snow keeps piling up on east side

Glacier National Park plow crews are expected to be beyond Avalanche Creek this week, as they head into the drift at the Red Rock slide. Red Rock is a large avalanche slide that crosses the highway about a half-mile from Avalanche Creek. It’s the first avalanche chute crews dig through each spring.

Crews will also be plowing into the campground area as well. There’s about 5 feet of snow on the level.

On the east side, park plows are working in the Many Glacier Valley, where they’ve reached the valley itself, but are still doing cleanup. Snow in Many Glacier is deeper than some buildings.

The SNOTEL site there shows a snow water equivalent of 21 inches, which is 218 percent of average. The modern-era record is 26.4 inches of snow water equivalent in 1997.

In 2011, another snowy year, the snow water equivalent maxed out at 23.6 inches. With last week’s snow in the higher terrain, the overall snowpack for the Flathead River Basin continues to grow. It’s now 155 percent of average.

Some low elevation areas saw significant melting last week. About a foot of snow melted in the West Glacier area, though there’s still a foot to 18 inches of snow on the level — plenty for spring skiing.

The Sun Road on the west side was open to Moose Country for hikers and bikers — about 3.5 miles beyond the gate at Lake McDonald Lodge. The Camas Road is also open to hikers and bikers. While east side secondary roads are plowed, they’re still closed to motor vehicles.

The end of this week is promising warmer and drier weather, with highs in the 50s to near 60 by Friday.