Sunday’s soggy weather in the Flathead Valley couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for a region facing dismally dry conditions for much of the spring.

A weather station at Glacier Park International Airport in Evergreen recorded 0.80 inches of rain on May 23, making it by far the wettest day the area has seen this spring. Month to date, the Flathead Valley had recorded 0.97 inches of precipitation as of Monday morning, which is only 0.22 behind the May average.

And more wet weather is on the way. The National Weather Service in Missoula predicts the region will see another half-inch to an inch of rain Tuesday into Wednesday as the next low pressure system invades the area. That could boost the area back to near average precipitation for the month.

EVEN WITH the good dose of rain, cool mountain temperatures have helped keep river levels out of flood range.

“Much of the recent precipitation has fallen as snow in the mountains, which is good because it will take time for the snow to melt and run off,” the National Weather Service noted in its Monday forecast. “This spreads out the runoff over a longer time, and makes it less likely to flood.”

The Flathead River at Columbia Falls was running at 8 feet on Monday morning, well below the 13-foot flood stage. The National Weather Service’s advanced hydrologic prediction service shows the river topping off at 9.65 feet on Wednesday afternoon before dropping back down to 8 feet by the weekend.

The Swan River near Bigfork is also predicted to stay below the 6.5-foot flood level. The prediction service shows the river peaking at 5.2 feet on Thursday.

The Clark Fork River in Missoula, however, could show some minor flooding following a second round of rain Tuesday into Wednesday.

MOUNTAIN SNOWPACK rebounded nicely with the latest storm. Noisy Basin in the Swan Mountains shows the mountaintop location receiving 9 inches of new snow depth over the last five days for a total snowpack of 94 inches.

A weather station on Flattop Mountain in Glacier National Park shows 74 inches of settled snow holding 37.1 inches of snow water equivalent.

All totaled, the Flathead River Basin’s snowpack is at 99% of normal for this time of year.

Elsewhere, the Upper Clark Fork basin’s snowpack is at 106%, while the Sun, Teton and Marias basins are at 132% of average, the highest in the state. Meanwhile, the Kootenai River region in far Northwest Montana is still lagging at 60% of average.