Significant rain, snowfall on tap for Glacier Park
Cyclists make their way along McDonald Creek beneath Mt. Oberlin on the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park Saturday, May 21, 2022. (Jeremy Weber/Daily Inter Lake)
Northwest Montana and Glacier National Park will see a double-whammy of precipitation into Monday, and by the time it’s all said and done, the high country of the park could see another foot of snow.
The storm will start out as rain Friday into Sunday and it will be heavy at times.
Snow levels Friday through Sunday however will be high — above 9,000 feet — said National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Lukinbill.
Through the time period, the area will see 0.75 inch to 1.5 inches of rain. Mainstem rivers will be running high, but aren’t expected to reach flood stage, though small streams could see some flooding and there could be rockslides on steeper slopes near highways and creeks.
Late Sunday into Tuesday a colder event will happen, with more rain at lower elevations, but snow in the high country.
Snow levels will fall to around 6,000 feet Monday evening into
Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Lukinbill said the Going-to-the-Sun Road could see another foot of snow by Tuesday evening.
That could delay the opening of the Sun Road even more. The Park Service has already said it won’t open before June 27 this year due to a colder than normal spring and higher avalanche danger.
The cold weather, however, will mitigate the flood potential — at least for the time being.
Park plows are through the Triple Arches on the west side and working toward the east side tunnel on the east side of the divide.
With the exception of the Cut Bank Road, Glacier’s secondary roads are all open and the Sun Road is open to vehicles to Avalanche Creek on the west side and Rising Sun on the east side.
There is a nightly closure (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) on the Sun Road 1.5 miles north of the West Entrance to Sprague Creek for construction work.
Folks also need a reservation to enter the West Entrance from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. They also need one for the Polebridge Entrance to the park from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The park releases reservations at 8 a.m. for the next day each morning on Recreation.gov