Another Fall snow storm impacting Montana earlier this week with heavy wet snow in Northern counties did take a bite out of the devastating drought. However, the recent wet weather did not eliminate the drought entirely.
There are still huge departures from normal with year to date precipitation across Montana especially northern and eastern counties. An additional 3" – 6" of moisture is needed just to reach normal levels. So it will take several big storms to wipe out the drought entirely.
The recent wet weather has helped eliminate the drought across the far southern half of Montana and now the Butte/Blackfoot region is considered abnormally dry which is an improvement from last week when they were considered to be in moderate drought.
The ongoing drought in Montana reached it’s peak in mid September and with several cold core storms in late September and now early October the drought has been improving almost on a weekly basis.
Here is the current percentage breakdown: 10% of Montana is still in Exceptional Drought. 24% still dealing with Extreme Drought, 66% of Montana is still in Severe Drought and 76% stuck in Moderate Drought.