An ides-of-March storm brought the heavy snowfall many Montanans have been waiting for all winter last weekend, dumping four-plus feet of snow on parts of the Continental Divide while also blanketing farmland and infilling ditches in the eastern expanse of the state.  And in typical Montana fas hion for this year, it may soon melt.  Snowstorms from last Thursday through last Sunday followed an unseasonably warm and dry January and February for Montana, helping water basins across the state build snowpack at all elevations. Great Divide Ski Area posted before noon on Saturday that its parking lot was at capacity. Lolo Pass also filled its parking lot with snowmobilers itching to go ride the 59 inches of fresh powder. Cooke City saw over 2 feet of snowfall by Sunday, and several other cities, including Helena, Lewistown and Billings, set daily precipitation records over the weekend.   Hydrologist Hayden Libby with the Natural Resources Conservation Service Montana Snow Survey is pictured during a site visit to Skalkaho Summit SNOTEL in Ravalli County last week. Credit: courtesy of NRCS hydrologist Joseph Kral Florence Miller, a hydrologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the storm cycle was hugely helpful in increasing snowpack. Lower- and middle-elevation snowpacks have struggled to retain snow this year due to above-average temperatures, she said.  Before the storms, water basins in Montana had snowpack between 70 and 90% of median levels, according to NRCS data from daily snow-measuring site readings. Following the weather event, those basins have rebounded to between 90% to 110% of the median. The storm did mostly miss the Gallatin and Madison drainages, Miller noted, so those areas remain drier than normal and are faring similarly to how they were in early March. But this week’s forecast is a reminder that Montana weather can change on a dime. Forecasters predict that temperatures will start rising on Wednesday. With much of the state likely to reach 80 degrees on Friday, Helena is on track to break another weather-related metric in just a few days: high daily temperature.  Julianna Glinskas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls, said those forecasted temperatures are nearly 30 degrees above average for this time of year. Eastern Montana is expected to heat up the most.  “This kind of swing is not normal. To go from a foot of snow to 70 degrees, that is quite an incredible thing,” Glinskas said. “It’s not unheard of…, but it’s not something we would typically expect.”  A skier knocks up fresh powder at Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area on the Idaho-Montana border during last weekend’s storm. The hill reported receiving 67 inches of snow between last Wednesday and Saturday. Credit: courtesy of Chris Voigt Notably, flash flooding is not a concern given low water levels in rivers and streams and the lack of rain in the forecast, Glinskas said. The soil in valleys is also unfrozen and can thus absorb melting snow. She said that while the snowstorms were helpful, the dire conditions from earlier this winter are tough to recover from.  In mid-March, roughly 94% of Montana was in some stage of drought conditions, compared to 72% at the start of October.  “Any moisture is definitely going to help us… This event was very beneficial to our snowpack,” Glinskas said. “That being said, snow depth is still well below normal for the mountains. And so we made good gains, but I wouldn’t say we have completely recovered everything that we haven’t had so far this year.”  The National Weather Service maintains records of the minimum and maximum amounts of precipitation that fell each day, with datasets often going back to the 1900s, as well as records of record highs and lows and averages.  On March 15, Helena received four-tenths of an inch of snow water equivalent, breaking the previous record of just over a third of an inch set in 1927 (the data go back to 1880).  “This kind of swing is not normal. To go from a foot of snow to 70 degrees, that is quite an incredible thing.” Julianna Glinskas, National Weather Service This Friday — six days later — Helena could also break its record for daily high temperature if it exceeds 71 degrees.  Bozeman is the most likely place to break its daily high temperature record of 68 degrees Friday, and Great Falls might tie its previous record of 73, Glinskas said. The high temperatures this week could have a big impact on melting much of the snow that accumulated at lower and middle elevations, said Miller of NRCS. Hopefully, the snow can hold at the highest elevations, which will be important for water supply later this summer, she added.  Miller explained it’s early to discuss how drought and water supply conditions will shake out this summer, but having a sustained snowpack is key.  “You can think about our snowpack as a reservoir that is storing our water for the summer. What matters for our summer water supply is whether or not we fill that reservoir up by reaching our normal peak levels of snowpack,” Miller said. “That (peak) will typically happen sometime in April in Montana, and the timing of how that melts and runs off will also dictate the availability of water throughout the summer.”   An abundance of snow at many Montana ski hills made for full parking lots and long lift lines last weekend. The chairlifts were full at Whitefish Mountain Resort March 13, 2026. Credit: courtesy Whitefish Mountain Resort For example, last year, Montana’s snowpack fared well throughout the winter, but a warmer spring caused the peak and meltout to happen earlier than was ideal, Miller explained.  Local ski resorts across Montana welcomed the influx of skiers last weekend and are now bracing for a rapid warm-up later this week.  Hiram Towle, general manager at Bridger Bowl near Bozeman, said the resort would have loved to have gotten more snow last weekend. This storm cycle, the ski area has received four inches since March 13. Still, every little bit that falls makes the skiing better, he said.  The cooler weekend temperatures did bring an opportunity for snowmaking, though. But Towle noted that the resort hasn’t been able to make much snow this winter because of the warm conditions — the bulk of the snow they have is what’s fallen from the sky.  Towle said Bridger Bowl is preparing for the high temperatures this weekend and is establishing contingency plans for which terrain to open and groom based on the weather. The resort’s target closing date remains April 12.  Chad Sokol, spokesperson for Whitefish Mountain Resort, said Monday that the storm cycle has been a welcome change of pace and their best snow of the season. The sustained snowfall brought the resort over two feet of powder in a few days. “We’ve been lucky so far, and getting multiple days of sustained snow is awesome,” Sokol said.  “Yeah, we wish it had been earlier, but we’re excited to get it now.”  “Even though it’s been a lackluster season in terms of total snowfall, we’ve been really fortunate … to hold onto the snow that we have received,” he continued. “We’re always at the mercy of the weather. If it warms up, we’ll adapt. But at this point we’re pretty confident that we’ll make it to our scheduled closing day (April 5).”  The post Whiplash of winter: Parts of Montana could set daily snowfall and high temperature records in the same week appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less