I know looking out the window at more snow is not exactly a welcoming image. But there IS good news that goes along with all the snow we have seen.

The Montana snowpack is good, and in some cases REAL good.

I thought of looking at the United Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Water, and Climate Center website for a look at the current statewide snow conditions. The map you see below is the ‘Snow Water Equivalent- Percentage of Normal’.

Snowpack- photo from USDA.gov
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The ‘normal’ is calculated on a 20-year average. Most of the numbers are really good, the yellow portions are the Lower Clark Fork drainage at 89% of average, the Kootenai at 80% (the lowest in the state), and the St. Mary’s drainage at 83% of that 20-year average.

The Green are the areas that are all right in the neighborhood of that 20-year average. The large chunk of Light Blue is all over average, the Madison drainage sits at 127%, Jefferson 114%, the Upper Yellowstone at 111%, and the Smith-Judith-Musselshell basin, looking pretty at 122% of that 20-year average.

Then the Milk River Basin as of today is at 239% of that 20-year average, some great news for the farmers/ranchers and everyone on the hi-line.

Some of the current snow depths around the state are pretty crazy.

The highest number I could find in Montana was a 135-inch depth, recorded at Black Bear, with an elevation of 8170 feet. Black Bear is right on the Montana-Idaho border, just outside of Yellowstone Park. Warm Springs north of Anaconda has a current snow depth of 73 inches.

Just north of Missoula, Stuart Mountain (7400ft) shows 87 inches. Farther north there are a couple of 100+ inch readings. Moss Peak (6780ft), southeast of Finley Point on Flathead shows 107 inches of snow. Noisy Basin (6040ft) northeast of Flathead shows 106 inches of snow.

So there is a bit of a silver lining to the clouds that keep dropping snow. When it finally stops, our rivers and lakes should be in great shape for summer.

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LOOK: The most extreme temperatures in the history of every state

Stacker consulted 2021 data from the NOAA's State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) to illustrate the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded in each state. Each slide also reveals the all-time highest 24-hour precipitation record and all-time highest 24-hour snowfall.

Keep reading to find out individual state records in alphabetical order.