Flood Advisory Remains In Carbon County, But Major Flooding Not Expected At This Time
By Denise Rivette
The Billings office of the National Weather Service (NWS) provided an update on the potential for flooding today after last night’s rainfall. Below is a radar estimate of the precipitation from last night.
NWS reports over an inch fell in some of the highest elevations where snowpack is still substantial. Snow has been melting at around an inch of water per day, we will have to wait to see if the rainfall brings a faster melt. As a result of this precipitation, NWS plans to keep the Flood Advisory in place for the Beartooth mountains and foothills through tomorrow to account for the runoff timing from the higher peaks down to the populated areas of the foothills. Less precipitation fell in the Crazy mountains, so they plan to cancel the Flood Advisory in areas along and north of I-90.
Carbon County Sheriff Josh McQuillan drove around the county this morning and reports, “The water is high, as is expected this time of year. The levels are being monitored, but, at this time, there is no reason to believe there will be a major flood event in the next 48 hours.”
DETAILS FROM NWS
The latest river forecasts keep all larger rivers below flood stage, with peaks over the next couple of days.
Stillwater River predicted to get close to 7.0 feet today before falling tomorrow
Boulder River predicted to peak at just under 7.0 feet today, falling tomorrow
The Clarks Fork at Belfry predicted to peak at 7.6 feet today/tomorrow
The Clarks Fork at Edgar predicted to peak at 8.4 feet tomorrow
Flood Advisory
Based on precipitation in the Beartooth mountains overnight, the advisory will stay in place today into Tuesday.
It takes a while ( 12-24 hrs) for the water to make it from the higher peaks down into the populated foothills.
The advisory will be cancelled the area around the Crazy mountains (north of I-90) based on less precipitation falling there overnight