DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
500 PM MDT THU JUL 31 2008
...DRY WEATHER CREATING WORSENING DROUGHT CONDITIONS ALONG
MONTANA/NORTH DAKOTA BORDER...
SYNOPSIS...
ON JULY 31...THE NATIONAL DROUGHT MONITOR INDICATED AREAS OF SEVERE
DROUGHT /D2 CLASSIFICATION/ FOR SHERIDAN...ROOSEVELT...RICHLAND...
DAWSON AND WIBAUX COUNTIES IN MONTANA.
SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...
ON JULY 12...RICHLAND...BLAINE...DAWSON...GLACIER AND PHILLIPS
COUNTIES WERE APPROVED FOR EMERGENCY GRAZING. THESE COUNTIES HAD
RECEIVED APPROXIMATELY 36 PERCENT OF NORMAL PRECIPITATION DURING THE
MARCH THROUGH MID JULY PERIOD.
CLIMATE SUMMARY...
SUMMER SEASON SO FAR /JUNE AND JULY/ FOR MONTANA HAS SEEN DAILY HIGH
TEMPERATURES AVERAGING NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL IN THE WEST AND
NEAR TO BELOW NORMAL IN THE EAST. LOW TEMPERATURES HAVE AVERAGED
NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL STATE-WIDE. PRECIPITATION HAS BEEN
NEAR TO ABOVE AVERAGE OVER WEST CENTRAL MONTANA...ALONG THE CANADA
BORDER FROM GLACIER PARK TO VALLEY COUNTY AND IN SOUTHEAST MONTANA.
PRECIPITATION HAS BEEN BELOW TO WELL BELOW AVERAGE IN THE
NORTHWEST...SOUTHWEST...WEST CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL AND ALONG THE
NORTH DAKOTA BORDER. DURING THE LAST 30 DAYS...VIRTUALLY ALL OF
MONTANA HAS EXPERIENCED BELOW TO WELL BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION.
FOR THE WATER YEAR...OCTOBER 1 THROUGH JULY 15...THE FOLLOWING
PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS HAVE BEEN RECORDED...
WATER YEAR PERCENT OF YEARS
CITY PRECIPITATION NORMAL IN SERVICE
BAKER 8.75 99 10
BILLINGS 9.39 79 99
BOZEMAN 12.03 104 67
BUTTE 7.86 82 112
CUT BANK 8.88 101 100
DILLON 6.08 83 68
GLASGOW 10.58 130 108
GREAT FALLS 12.67 112 114
HAVRE 7.86 93 128
HELENA 7.59 91 130
JORDAN 10.84 131 9
KALISPELL 10.76 77 114
LEWISTOWN 12.83 95 112
LIVINGSTON 10.71 88 101
MILES CITY 6.89 67 131
MISSOULA 9.22 83 123
MULLAN PASS 33.23 106 66
WOLF POINT 5.64 67 10
GLENDIVE 7.35 74 104
SIDNEY 5.03 48 68
BOZEMAN-MSU 19.22 126 125
SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN DRYING AT THE CLIMATOLOGICAL
AVERAGE IN CENTRAL MONTANA. DEEPER LEVELS HAVE RETAINED A BIT MORE
MOISTURE FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR.
PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...
THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS OVER
CENTRAL AND EASTERN MONTANA FROM AUGUST 6 TO AUGUST 14. DURING THIS
SAME PERIOD...TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR TO ABOVE NORMAL.
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION OUTLOOK FOR ALL OF AUGUST IS INDICATING EQUAL
CHANCES OF BELOW NORMAL...NORMAL...AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND
PRECIPITATION FOR ALL OF MONTANA.
HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
THE JULY 1 SURFACE WATER SUPPLY INDEX /SWSI/ ISSUED BY THE U.S.
NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE SHOWED 50 OF THE 52 BASINS
MONITORED IN MONTANA HAD SWSI VALUES IN THE NEAR AVERAGE...SLIGHTLY
WET...MODERATELY WET OR EXTREMELY WET CATEGORIES. ONLY TWO BASINS
INDEXED BELOW AVERAGE...THE UPPER JUDITH RIVER BASIN WHICH INDEXED
SLIGHTLY DRY AND THE MISSOURI BELOW FORT PECK WHICH INDEXED
MODERATELY DRY.
RESERVOIR STORAGE AS OF JULY 29TH
RESERVOIR STORAGE PERCENT
NAME 1000 ACRE-FEET CAPACITY
BIGHORN LAKE 1095 102
CANYON FERRY RESERVOIR 1907 101
CLARK CANYON RESERVOIR 81 47
FORT PECK LAKE 10580 NA
FRESNO RESERVOIR 77 83
GIBSON RESERVOIR 69 71
HEBGEN RESERVOIR 383 99
HUNGRY HORSE RESERVOIR 3341 NA
LAKE ELWELL/TIBER RESERVOIR 920 99
LAKE SHERBURNE 62 94
LIMA RESERVOIR 44 52
NELSON RESERVOIR 51 64
PISHKIN RESERVOIR 38 81
SWIFT RESERVOIR 24 80
WILLOW CREEK RESERVOIR 31 98
NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...
THE NEXT SCHEDULED PRODUCT WILL BE ISSUED BY AUGUST 29TH...OR SOONER
IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS.
RELATED WEBSITES...
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR:
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
MONTANA DROUGHT PAGE:
http://drought.mt.gov/
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS:
http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls/
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER:
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/index.php
MISSOURI BASIN RIVER FORECAST CENTER:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mbrfc/
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER
U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
MISSOURI BASIN RIVER FORECAST CENTER
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS...
PLEASE REFER ALL QUESTIONS TO W-TFX.webmaster@noaa.gov
WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS