Near-record warmth so far this winter
Kyle Jarvis, of Kalispell, takes photographs as the sun sets along the Flathead River on Wednesday, Jan. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Northwest Montana’s mountain snowpack remains above normal, even as the region recorded one of the warmest Januarys on record.
According to the National Weather Service in Missoula, above average temperatures enveloped all of the Northern Rockies last month. It was the warmest January in Kalispell over the last 14 years and the eighth warmest on record.
When factoring in a mild December, Kalispell saw the second-warmest December through January stretch on record. Only December through January in 1953 was warmer, the National Weather Service reported.
Overall, Kalispell’s average temperature in January was 28.8, which is 5 degrees above normal for the month.
Still, mountain snowpack is trending ahead of average.
The Flathead Basin’s snow-water equivalent is at 117 percent of average, while the Kootenai Basin is at 112 percent of average. Snow-water equivalent is the amount of liquid water contained within the mountain snowpack.
Snow depths range from 115 inches on Big Mountain, to 106 inches at Flattop Mountain in Glacier National Park.
Kalispell picked up 18.1 inches of snowfall in January, which is 143 percent of normal. Much of that snowfall melted in February.
Unsettled weather is likely for the region for the remainder of the week, according to the Weather Service. Valley rain and snow is likely through the weekend, with heavy mountain snow possible along the Montana and Idaho border.