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What a difference a month has made!
After a mild January, February has hit us with full winter force this year. In fact,
at 31-inches of snow, there's an outside chance Missoula could even break the all-time record
for the most snow in February.
We've already had some severe cold, both in early December, and again earlier this month.
This coming weekend could be worse...
MARTY WHITMORE/NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGIST "This could actually be the coldest airmass
of the season yet to come this way. It's all a matter of how we clear off at night and
the snow on the ground how cold we're actually going to get. But we're concerned about that."
That's because we're quickly getting into the time of year for calving, and when spring
should start to be sprung...
DB STANDUP "At the end of December there had been worries
about the snowpack in the Bitterroot with averages running below 1-hundred percent.
Not now. The snow totals have soared to 1-hundred 44-percent in less than a month."
In fact, this is more the kind of month you would expect in a "La Nina" year, not when
the ocean temps are neutral...
WHITMORE "No, that has not been the driving force.
And maybe that's why we've been so variable. From a real warm spoil us type weather in
January to better weather for the skiers and whatnot."
The forecast models are suggesting the current weather pattern should shift soon. But even
then, March could be a wet one, setting the stage for potential flooding. Not so much
in the Flathead and Northwest Montana, but definitely in the south...
WHITMORE "Particularly from the I-90 corridor south
if you will. The Bitterroot and the Upper Clark Fork and those places. To the north
we're more normal in those basins. I wish it was that easy to say it will flood down
here and it won't up there. That's not the case."
At Lolo Pass, Dennis Bragg, MTN News.