O.K. there’s nothing we can do about it so let’s have some fun with this.
We aren’t all gloom and doom over the crazy amounts of rain and snow here in Montana (see the pretty rainbow picture), but it is crazy right now. As many of you know this is how we get our averages here. Average 80 degrees in the summer time = Monday it’s 100 + Tuesday it’s 60 degrees. However, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Granted it’s heading into Memorial weekend so the weather should be pretty crappy, but they didn’t forecast rain – they forecasted HEAVY rain. Oh, and did we mention the Winter Storm Watch in Paradise Valley and Yellowstone National Park for to day through Monday?
To put it in perspective last week Livingston received about 2.5 inches, the forecast is for another 2 or 3 inches, our annual rainfall is 12 inches. That’s about 45% of our total rainfall for the year in a total of two weeks yippie. In eastern Montana last week they got 8 inches in one storm – it washed out bridges and closed the interstate fun.
Once again if you didn’t catch our previous post about the large amounts of snow we still have check it out and consider adjusting your fishing plans this summer.
I remember a story about this, what was it? Oh, yeah Noah can you get us the building specs on that ark you built? Maybe we can use it to float from Yellowstone National Park through downtown Livingston.
Blogging with a snorkel on somewhere near the approaching water…
We’ve been fielding a lot of calls lately about our snow pack so we wanted to relay some information to all those coming out to Montana this summer.
Background:
One of the reasons so many people love to fly fish Montana is that we have wild rivers and wild trout. A large portion of our Montana streams and rivers are freestones, which means no dams. In the spring when all the snow melts out of the mountains it floods the rivers and renders a majority unfishable for weeks at a time. You know all that water that the Mississippi is getting – a lot of it starts from the snow melts here. Hence, the term run-off season substitue construction season if you live in a city. If you come to Montana in late May through June chances are you’ll have some serious run-off issues to deal with. However, one of the great things about Montana is the variety of waters. Spring creeks and tailwaters (those with dams) are less effected by this annual event, but tailwaters can still have big flows and virtually no wading opportunities.
Current Conditions:
We are at 1997 water/snow levels. We use this date as a benchmark because we had a 100 year flood event through a majority of the waters in the state. Now we’re sure the weather guys are going to be ‘readjusting’ that event as it was only 14 years ago and it looks like we might have another one. We are watching it closely as many waters in 1997 had major flood issues and didn’t fish at all until August.
Currently the National Weather Service has projected that due to La Nina Montana will likely experience a cooler and wetter June than normal. This seems to be true as we’ve had little snow melt due to warm weather and there’s still plenty of snow in the hills – 180% of normal snow water equivalent in the upper Yellowstone drainage right now.
What does the Mean to Anglers:
Most importantly there will be good fishing throughout Montana no matter what happens remember all the variety we mentioned earlier. So come fishing whenever works best for your schedule, but you might have to be flexible on where and how you fish. If you only like to fish the Yellowstone River we recommend pushing your fishing dates until late July, August or September – which should fish exceptionally well with all the water we are going to have. If you are coming in June or early July make sure to plan ahead and book some private water (or just call us and we’ll do it for you) as those reservation will be hard to come by in the next week or so.
So that’s the prerun-off scenario right now, but don’t worry we’ll keep you posted with videos and photos sure to follow…
2010 Montana Snow Pack
The recent cool weather and precipitation has increased our Montana snow pack in the upper and lower Yellowstone river valleys. About this time of the year we stop looking at the snow pack levels and start looking at SWE or Snow Water Equivalent. SWE is a measure of the the amount of water left in the snow.
Currently the Upper Yellowstone is at 86% of normal levels. The Lower Yellowstone is at 128% of normal. What does this mean to anglers, tourists and Montana travelers? Good water conditions for trout and conditions that lower our chances for major forest fires in the late summer and fall. All-in-all it’s looking like a positive start to our summer fishing season. We’ll keep you posted.
Most of the time we will be the first one’s to say, “Fishing and politics don’t mix”! At least when you’re floating the river looking for Mr. Trout to eat your dry fly. Sometimes anglers/hunters/avid outdoorsmen have to take a serious look around and become involved. We here at Montana Fly Fishing Guides aren’t political by nature, but when topics are debated that directly effect our resources we try to stand up and be counted. Please visit the resource below to learn more about how you can ensure your children will enjoy the same recreational activities you do today. We aren’t saying that the proposed legislation is THE solution, but all of us should be informed and willing to get involved in this discussion!
The following is an excerpt from Climate Central, we encourage you to watch the video and learn more. We’ve already contacted our Montana Congressmen and given them our opinions. We urge you to learn more about this topic, contact your local congressmen, and get involved:
“The flow of water in Montana’s rivers is lifeblood for its economy, both through tourism and agriculture. Montana’s trout and the $300 million recreational fishing industry depend on cool waters flowing from melting snow high in the mountains throughout the summer. Irrigated crops play a prominent role in Montana’s $2.4 billion agricultural industry, and these crops rely on the same strong river flows during the summer when soils are driest and plants thirstiest. But a broad trend is changing the way streams and rivers flow in Montana. Read more & view video…
You can also email Derek Goldman directly at dgoldman@mrss.com to become involved.
If you haven’t heard we’ve gotten plenty of snow in the past couple weeks. Winter is off to a great start here in our part of Montana, hopefully it will continue. As of today our Montana snow pack is over 120% ! Lot’s of snow means plenty of cool water for our trout in the summer time. Keep it coming.
Here’s the link if you want to check it out yourself.
