The Middle Fork of the Flathead River reached a record low flow for Sept. 28 as a drought persists across Northwest Montana, the National Weather Service said in a recent presentation.

The river gauge height at West Glacier dropped to 1.45 feet. It rose slightly after recent rain, but was still less than 1.5 feet.

While July and early August were wetter than normal in the Flathead Valley, several months were warmer than normal for the water year, the Weather Service noted.

The water year is defined from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

Of particular note was the period from April to the end of May, when snowpack went from being near or above average, to  below average. Some areas by the end of May, particularly east of the Continental Divide, didn’t have any snow left by May’s end.

The water year also ended on a dry and warm trend. The average September temperature in Kalispell was 6.9 degrees above average, with a total of 0.72 inch of rain, which is 62% of average.

Since Oct. 1 of 2024, Kalispell recorded 15.37 inches of precipitation, roughly 96% of average. But the July and August rains didn’t make up for the loss of snow, the Weather Service noted.

And across the region, it’s been very dry. Missoula and Butte are 76% and 77% of average, respectively.

The overall dryness is illustrated in cumulative low snowpack. 

At the Grave Creek SNOTEL site in the Whitefish Range, from 2023 to 2025 it had an accumulated deficit of 18.1 inches, with every year being below normal, though 2024 was the best year at 1.3 inches below and 2023 the worst at 11.3 inches below normal.