Extra precipitation helping with drought

While a patch of dry conditions is still centered on Hill, Blaine and northern Chouteau counties and a patch of drought in northwestern Montana is pushing into the western edge of Liberty County, significant winter snowfall and recent rains have been helping lighten the Montana drought map in this area.

After years of dry weather pushed the area into significant moisture deficits — the region was more than 11 inches short of normal over a five-year period last fall — snowfall and recent rains have driven parts of this area to well-above normal levels of precipitation for the month, year and water year.

The water year is measured from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

At the monitoring station near Havre, National Weather Service has recorded 2.68 inches for the month through June 11, closing in on two inches more than the normal June 11 amount of 1 inch.

For the calendar year, the station recorded 6.94 inches with the normal value on that date 5.18 inches.

And for the water year, measured from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 and reflecting winter snowfall in November and December, the Havre station has recorded 10.48 inches, 3.66 inches more than the normal amount of 6.82 inches.

From July 1 on, Havre has recorded 65.9 inches of snow, more than two feet more than normal.

And the national drought monitor reflects the extra moisture.

After several years of much of this part of north-central Montana being listed as in severe to extreme drought, Hill, Blaine and northern Chouteau counties are listed on the map released June 8 as in abnormally dry conditions, with a patch of moderate drought listed in parts of Hill and Blaine counties.

Meanwhile, a patch of drought in northwestern Montana, which has moved from no drought listing to moderate and severe drought, continues to push east into Toole County, with abnormally dry conditions listed on the western edge of Liberty County.

But the rain has continued to fall in this area.

Friday saw the recording station at the Havre City-County Airport showing .49 inches, following just a bit of rain, .04 inches, recorded there Thursday.

The rain let up by Friday afternoon, but followed significant rain earlier in the month and plenty of precipitation earlier in the year.

The first weekend of the month saw more than 2 inches recorded at the Havre airport from Wednesday through Sunday, following rain that fell the previous week as well.

And that followed significant snowfall — and plenty of cold — that started in November.

That month, the area went from a warm Halloween — Havre recorded a high of 66 Halloween Day, Oct. 31, and 65 Nov. 1 to snow fall and temperatures plummeting, with several days of sub-zero lows.

Havre hit a low of minus 18 Nov. 12, with the high that day of 13 degrees.

And cold continued in much of December, along with the snow. Dec. 18, the high was 1 degree with the high Monday minus 6 and the low minus 27.

The cold continued until Christmas, when the area warmed up - Havre had a high of 45 but then got cold again for a week.

Dec. 23 saw the coldest temperature in the state at minus 38, but it warmed to 9 below zero the morning of Dec. 24 and shot to 45 degrees Christmas day.

December may have seen a record snowfall since the information started being recorded for Havre with 32.7 inches of snow in December, more than four times the normal amount of 7.9 inches for the month.

The weather turned closer to normal the first week of January, though a bit chilly early in the week with highs in this area mostly in the teens and 20s, but warmed up again a bit Saturday and Sunday.

Havre had a high of 25 Jan. 7, though it dropped to 2 degrees for a low, but had a balmy high of 32 degrees the next day, a bit warmer than the normal value for Jan. 8 of 28 degrees.

The next week saw dangerous driving conditions in the region with freezing rain.

It warmed up that weekend, with warmer temperatures dominating the area over the weekend — Havre saw temperatures go as high as 42 — but a cover of snow and ice became a near constant feature.

By mid-February, the sheet had been slowly melting as milder weather hit Havre.

Snow depth was listed in Havre at four inches on the first of the month, reducing to 3 inches by Feb. 4, 2 inches Feb. 6, 1 inch Feb. 11, and zero inches Feb. 13, a day with a high of 44 degrees and a low of 30.

That changed the third week of February when a heavy snowstorm hit, with that number jumping from 0 inches to 6 inches in two days.

Snow and cold continued off-and-on through March, then as things warmed up in April, along with more snow and rain, flooding hit the area.

The damage from the flooding led to local and state disaster declarations and Federal Emergency Management Agency is evaluating the damage with a potential of a federal disaster declaration.

The forecast for this region this week does not predict much rain, although showers or thunderstorms for some areas are possible Tuesday evening and showers are possible Wednesday through Thursday and again Friday night through Sunday.