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Heat wave: Flathead bakes in record temps

Sam Wilson Daily Inter Lake | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 1 month AGO
by Sam Wilson Daily Inter Lake
| June 7, 2016 7:30 AM

The first day of summer is still two weeks off, but an early wave of 90-degree high temperatures already is setting single-day weather records in the Flathead Valley.

On Sunday at 6:38 p.m., the mercury climbed to 90 at Glacier Park International Airport to break the June 5, 1957, record of 87 degrees.

Monday’s hot weather was expected to near the 1977 record of 92 degrees for June 6.

Today and Wednesday are both forecast to hit 94 degrees in the Flathead Valley — which would easily surpass today’s 88-degree temperature record set in 1926 and tie the June 8 record set last year.

The Weather Service predicts the current high-pressure system throughout the Pacific Northwest will give way to a cooler, wetter system by Wednesday night, with more seasonable temperatures and chances of showers and thunderstorms forecast through the weekend.

The early heat may be reminiscent of last year, when June’s record-breaking heat waves and weeks without rain set the stage for a long and active wildfire season, but fire experts say it’s still too early to predict how this summer will pan out.

Ali Ulwelling, a fire prevention specialist at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s Kalispell office, said the local fire season likely will hinge on what happens the rest of the month.

“There’s always that disclaimer that it always depends on what happens in June, how much moisture we are going to get,” she said.

June is historically the region’s wettest month of the year, delivering an average of 2.56 inches of rain in Kalispell. Last year, the airport’s weather station registered just 0.6 inches for the month.

Kalispell has seen above-average precipitation so far this year: 8.29 inches, compared with an average of 7.06 inches by June 6.

The Wildland Fire Potential Outlook, updated monthly by the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center, predicted “normal” wildfire potential in its June 1 report and noted that a cool, wet end to May helped replenish snowpack throughout the Northwest.

In the Flathead River drainage, high-elevation snow gauges reported snow depths at 68 percent of normal as of Monday morning. The Kootenai River basin’s snowpack has dwindled to 39 percent of normal.

A report released Monday by the Natural Resources Conservation Service forecasts below-average streamflows this summer in the two basins, but predicts they will be a substantial improvement over 2015.

The agency expects the Flathead basin streamflow to be 70 percent of average through July and the Kootenai basin to be 71 percent of average.

Ulwelling said she’s staying optimistic, but urging people to take seasonal precautions.

“We’re asking folks, as we do every year, to do what you can around your home,” she said.

Ulwelling hopes a newly formed state-led initiative will help connect communities in the area’s wildland-urban interfaces with information and resources to take precautionary measures ahead of wildfire season.

The Flathead Area Firesafe Council is made up of retired fire management officers, incident commanders and other volunteers from local communities, organizations and agencies.

“We’re starting to coordinate projects and form committees,” she said. “We’re getting to that point of recognizing projects where we can be effective.”

For more information on the council or to get involved, contact Ulwelling at (406) 751-2270 or by email at aulwelling@mt.gov.


Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.

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