April, May are second driest on record

While it has been awfully dry the past two months, the National Weather Service says Northwest Montana isn’t in a drought.

From April 1 to May 21, the Kalispell area saw its second driest period ever recorded, with just 0.45 inches of rain, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Luke Robinson.

For the month of May through the 26th, the area saw a paltry 0.11 inches of rain. The driest on record for the same time period was in 1924 with just 0.19 inches of rain.

March, although it was warm, was about average with 1.13 inches of rain. For the year, Kalispell is 0.54 inches below normal and 1.54 inches below normal for May. April was 0.89 inches below normal.

How summer shapes up, particularly the fire season, will become known in the next six weeks, Robinson said. June is typically the wettest month of the year, he noted.

“We’re not extremely worried (about the lack of rain) yet,” he said.

The Pacific Northwest has been experiencing a weak El Nino climate pattern, which has been strengthening as of late. That might actually be good news, as an El Nino pattern in the summer months can mean a cooler, wetter summer.

But the summer of 2003 started out with a dry spring and mothballed into one of the biggest wildfire seasons on record.

“That’s in the back of our heads right now,” Robinson said.

The National Interagency Fire Center is predicting above normal wildland fire potential for the region in July and August, with above normal temperatures. But even in dry years, a few showers in the summer months can quickly dampen fire potential.

Meanwhile, the region’s snowpack continues to shrivel. The snowpack for the Flathead River Basin is currently 58 percent of average.