Weather Service says it's likely Flathead will flood

With the snowpack in the Flathead River Basin at 142 percent of average, there’s about a 77 percent chance of the Flathead River reaching flood stage at 13 feet sometime this spring, National Weather Service hydrologist Ray Nickless said in a webinar last week.

The snowpack at places like Emery Creek and Noisy Basin are close to record levels for this time of the year, Nickless noted.

In the Clark Fork River Basin near Missoula, some SNOTEL sites are just above record levels for this time of year.

There’s also plenty of snow in the valleys, particularly the closer one gets to Glacier National Park. West Glacier has 38 inches of snow on the ground, while Kalispell still had 14 inches as of last week.

This week, that low elevation snow should begin to melt. Temperatures were expected to be in the 50s Tuesday after presstime and the remainder of the week should see a mix of rain and snow, with highs in the 40s at lower elevations. That will further build the snowpack in higher terrain, which is fairly typical for this time of year, Nickless noted.

The long range models are calling for a cool, wet, spring through May, he said.