15" New snow this morn....

[Horn Seeker]

On the Beartooth front here in S.C. Montana... 7800 feet. 1-2 more feet expected today. We have lost zero snowpack yet this year.... (well, dang near)... the ski area has more snow than it had all winter.... When the switch flips to Summer... the Yellowstone River is going to come unglued.....

 

[highmountian]

Wow, you might have to turn in the hunting equp. for a raft and fly pole.

 

[putm2sleep]

Same here - Long's Peak is packed, and looked gorgeous this morning against a bright blue back drop. They say Abasin may be open until July! Swollen lakes and rivers. Keep the snow pack I say!

 

[noharleyyet]

We are getting some much neeed moisture....keep sending it.

 

[elk_hunter]

Hehehe...we got an inch or two both Monday and Tuesday morning this week.

 

[Big Fin]

I am not one to complain about moisture, but Mrs. Fin informed me that we are walleye fishing most of next week. Is it too much to ask for the temps to be north of 50F? Regardless, when that woman says she is going walleye fishing, not snow, rain, sleet, nor hail will keep her from the lake. So, it we must fish in the snow, we will.

The cloud level in right on the valley floor here in the Gallatin, so it is hard to tell how much snow we are getting in the hills. Good news is that if I can sneak out bear hunting Sunday evening, those black bears will stand out well against that white snow.

 

[Oak]

From our paper this morning:

Snowpack portends flooding
By Gary Harmon
Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Colorado River will swell to levels not seen for three years once temperatures rise and the mountains lose their late coverings of snow that have pushed the statewide snowpack to 167 percent of normal, officials said Thursday.

Bike paths along the river through the Grand Valley, Connected Lakes State Park and other low-lying areas will likely be inundated as the river swells, Erik Knight, a hydrologist with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said at the State of the Rivers meeting in the Grand Junction City Council chambers.

“We have an extra three weeks of snow accumulation than what would normally occur,” Knight said.

High waters could close down Interstate 70 to the west of Fruita as it has done in years past, most recently in 2008, Knight said.

The Colorado River Basin snowpack was 193 percent of average and the Gunnison River Basin 169 percent of average, suggesting a significant possibility of flooding, he said.

Continued cool weather will delay the runoff to and possibly after the Memorial Day weekend, extending the runoff well beyond the time that the river usually recedes back to its summer width.

“It should be a good year for Lake Powell,” which could rise 17 feet from its 2010 elevation. Likewise, Lake Mead could see a 31-foot increase in its elevation as more than 12 mlilion acre feet flow down from the Rocky Mountains, Knight said.

In the Grand Valley, though, the high water could be problematic, Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca said.

This year “could be the kind of year where we’ll be reminded of all the development that was allowed along the river that probably shouldn’t have been.”

 

[Devil Diver Down]

Can we beg for just a little of that moisture down here in the desert? It is bone dry and the snow pack is long gone--only half what it was supposed to be anyway. The Arizona mule deer need your generous contributions...

It "rained" Wednesday, but just enough to wet my truck so the blowing dust could coat it properly. And it made the streets wet enough that just about every driver locked up their brakes and kept their max speed at 25%.

 

[Horn Seeker]

The tracks wont hurt too Fin...Fishing in 50 and rain sucks....

Wish I could DDD....

 

[Nemont]

It has rained almost all week up in the N.E. corner of MT. Had about an inch early now they are saying between 2-4 inches. Supposed to rain until Sunday and the winds will kick up starting tonight.

All of this on top of already satured ground. Makes it tough for my kid to play much baseball.

In today's Gazette

Some basins, including the Musselshell, have nearly 2-1/2 times the amount of snow they usually have in mid-May. The Crystal Lake snow telemetry gauge in the Big Snowy Mountains, for instance, recorded 22.7 inches of snow water in its pack on Thursday. Its average snow water this time of year is 4.6 inches.

On Thursday, the upper Yellowstone, the stretch from Yellowstone National Park to Custer, had 160 percent of its normal snowpack for this time of year. The lower Yellowstone had 167 percent. The Missouri mainstem had 224 percent.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_64980c9d-75dd-55af-9983-7671e9cb313d.html

Nemont

 

[Lawnboy]

I've got to run up to the church I mow in Gardiner and turn on the sprinklers. They haven't gotten a drop of rain and the lawns are drying up I would of thought that with the Beartooths getting hit they would of got something as well. Weird weather for sure.

 

[Horn Seeker]

They are on the lee side of the hill for this system and aren't getting chit Bart... RedLodge and the face there is getting pounded while Cook City and points west are getting squat...

The Powder at Miles City has jumped from about 1500 cfs to about 7000 cfs in the last 12 hours.... Tongue similar results. The Jellystone here in Billings has jumped about 2500 cfs today...

 

[tarheel]

Same here - Long's Peak is packed, and looked gorgeous this morning against a bright blue back drop. They say Abasin may be open until July! Swollen lakes and rivers. Keep the snow pack I say!

Wait 'til the Big Thompson comes to life; I wouldn't want to be camping anywhere in that canyon.

 

[Horn Seeker]

25-32 inches now being reported across the beartooth front.... Some of the rivers are rising steadily... the powder is evidently an extremely flashy system... in 24 hrs it went from 1500 CFS to nearly 25,000.... 3 feet on the guage to nearly 12 (flood stage was at 9)....

 

[onpoint]

check out the flows on tiny little flashy Pumpkin Creek, the Tongue, and the pulse at Glendive on the 'Stone...... Lotsa water real fast is awesome....... I'm really looking forward to seeing the flows in June. The fishing on the rivers around here should start maybe around the start of bird and bow season.

 

[Dinkshooter]

http://www.hcn.org/issues/43.8/where-has-montanas-water-gone

 

[ismith]

http://www.hcn.org/issues/43.8/where-has-montanas-water-gone

I guess he got his answer.

 

[RJH]

Does it ever stop snowing - taking the wife to Yellowstone then to Boseman over Memorial Day weekend and was hoping to take the car really do not want to take the truck but may.

 

[Horn Seeker]

Boy, I wouldn't think Yeller would be any good next weekend... but???

Right now we've got a few rivers running at record levels... and its only from rain, the snow hasn't even effected the flows yet! The Jellystone in Glendive is running 156,000 CFS.... about 40,000 higher than any record I can find... The Musselshell, running into the famed Missouri Breaks, is running nearly 2 orders of magnitude higher than its Mean for this date and has broke its record flows by nearly double....

 

[drahthaar]

Good Lord, where are they going to put all that water? Gonna have to send it downstream where they absolutely don't want any more water?