Variable January weather concludes with a general lack of snow in Montana

Natural Resources

Conservation Service

BOZEMAN - At the beginning of January, more than half of NRCS snow monitoring stations in Montana and surrounding river basins reported their lowest snowpack on record.

"Well-above-normal precipitation was needed to begin a recovery from lack of snow, yet precipitation was mostly below normal across Montana last month," Eric Larson, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service water supply specialist, said Monday.

The exception was the northern Flathead and Kootenai River basins in Montana where total monthly precipitation was near normal. Other basins wes...