Despite storms, snowpack still well below normal for late January
During a snow day, Columbia Falls High School sophomore Sol Masters works on digging out his mother’s business on First Avenue West Thursday, Jan. 18.
An overnight blizzard that struck the Flathead Valley Jan. 17-18 brought some impressive snowfall totals, with Essex reporting the most at 24 inches of new snow, according to the National Weather Service.
An observer in Columbia Falls measured 19.5 inches; Kalispell 12 inches; Eureka 17 inches and various locations on the east side of Flathead Lake saw 1 to 2 feet.
The storm was a quick one — by Thursday daybreak skies were sunny and clear, albeit cold, with temperatures at or well below zero, depending on location.
The snow did help boost the snowpack, but not as much as one might think — that Flathead River Basin is about 68% of average currently, so there’s still a long way to go to getting back to normal.
East of the Divide the snowpack lags even further behind; the Sun, Marias and Milk River drainage is just 42% of average. In Glacier national Park, the West Flattop SNOTEL site is 69% of average, or about 8 inches of snow water equivalent below normal. The Many Glacier SNOTEL site on Glacier’s east side, currently isn’t working. It shows no readings. The drought is statewide, all river basins are currently below average.
The snow was good news for area ski resorts.
Whitefish Mountain Resort now has 100% of its terrain open, with 4 feet of snow in January. Blacktail Mountain Ski Area is also now open after a late opening — the area near Lakeside didn’t open until Jan. 14.
The storm brought plenty of fender benders and other police calls and the county closed the Hodgson Road due to drifting snow. Schools also closed Thursday.
But this week promises temperatures in the mid-30s to 40 with either snow or rain or both. Monday morning saw a quarter inch of freezing rain. By the weekend we should be in the doldrums again, with valley inversions and no significant precipitation. December was an exceedingly dry month, with little snow and days on end of inversions, hoarfrost and fog in the valleys.