Cool weather brings first snow to area

This part of Montana saw some much-needed precipitation over the weekend that hit the Havre area in the form of the first significant snowfall of the season.

National Weather Service says the reporting station at the Havre City-County Airport has recorded .66 inches of precipitation for October, with more than a half-inch of that falling Friday night through Sunday morning.

The station recorded 1.9 inches of snow in October, in a storm that hit Friday night and continued into Saturday.

It left a blanket of snow on the ground, although most of it had melted off by Saturday night.

Snow was still on the ground in patches this morning, likely due to the much-colder overnight temperatures in the area.

After seeing lows just-below to well-above freezing last week - the Havre station recorded a low of 39 just before midnight Wednesday - the temperatures started to drop, with the thermometer dropping to 31 degrees by 7:08 a.m. Thursday before climbing back to 55 later in the day.

It hit 31 again about 7 a.m. Friday, then climbed back to 65.

With snow falling, temperatures dropped to 31 by 11:25 a.m. Saturday, then hit a high of 37 degrees Saturday afternoon.

The temperature dropped to a chilly 21 degrees just before midnight, and went down to a frigid Halloween temperature of 14 degrees Sunday morning at 7:20 a.m.

It hit 38 at the Havre station Sunday before dropping down to 12 degrees overnight.

And it was chillier in other parts of the area, with Weather Service reporting a temperature of 6 degrees in Harlem, Rocky Boy and Big Sandy at 9 this morning

And while no more precipitation is expected this week, the temperatures are expected to remain chilly in the next couple of days, with the high for Havre today predicted to hit 39 degrees and the low to drop to 9 degrees.

The forecast for Chester calls for a high of 35 with a low of 11 degrees, while Big Sandy should see a high near 40 with a low around 16. Harlem's forecast has a high of 39 and a low of 11.

The highs are expected to creep into the 40s in the region by Tuesday and back into the 50s and low 60s later in the week, with lows staying in the teens to lower 20s Tuesday but expected to warm up with lows in the higher 20s to low 30s later in the week.

Region, state still in drought

While precipitation in the state is welcome and helps, the weekend snow and rains around the state likely are not enough to turn things around by themselves.

In Havre, for example, the .66 inches for October didn't even bring the region to its normal amount for the month. October normally sees .75 inches of precipitation for Havre.

And for the calendar year, it leaves the region more than a third short of normal. Since Jan. 1, the Havre station has seen 6.51 inches with the normal value 10.93 inches.

For the water year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, the monthly total is the total so far, .66 inches to a normal value of .75 inches, but the region went in with a significant water deficit.

For the water year ending Sept. 30 this year, Havre had a recorded value of 7.41 - National Weather Service meteorologist Christian Cassell said the third-lowest water year on record for Havre - with a normal value of 11.82 inches.

Cassell said Havre's driest water year on record was in 87-88 with 5.38 inches.

He said this year's period from June to October was the driest on record for Havre with 2.83 inches. The normal value is 6.75 inches

And the drought continues. The latest report of the U.S. Drought Monitor shows most of Montana east of the Continental Divide, except for the southwest corner of the state, in extreme to exceptional drought. Blaine, Chouteau, Hill and Liberty counties all are listed in extreme drought.

The southeast corner of the state is mostly listed in severe drought with a couple of patches of extreme drought.

The Climate Prediction Center reports most of Montana is expected to remain in drought with the situation improving through January, except the southeast corner, which is listed as "drought persists."

La Niña expected to bring cooler, wetter weather

Part of the expected improvement to Montana drought conditions could be due to cooler temperatures over the equatorial Pacific bringing a La Niña weather system, which normally brings cooler, wetter winter weather to the state.

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center forecasts a 33 percent to 40 percent chance of colder-than-normal temperatures across the southern part of Montana and a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of colder-than-normal temperatures across the northern part of the state, including Blaine, Hill, Liberty and northern Chouteau counties.

The prediction calls for a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of above-normal precipitation across the western to central part of Montana with a 33 precent to 40 percent chance for above normal precipitation slightly to the east, with the eastern edge of Montana predicted to have about an about normal chance for above- or below-normal precipitation.

La Niña conditions were expected to bring cooler, wetter weather to Montana last winter, although it remained dryer- and warmer-than-normal most of the season last year.