By Mike Weland
Unseasonably warm temperatures … who among us remembers seeing a thermometer reading 50F on December 11? … and nearly a week of continuous rain with a few snow showers thrown in for color has spawned major floods in Oregon and Washington’s west coast, and closer to home in the Kootenai/Cabinet Region of northwest Montana, to include Troy.
While Boundary County has seen a sharp increase in river and stream flows of late, it might seem we’ve weathered the storms fairly well so far, don’t get complacent just yet. We have more crazy and extreme weather just ahead.
The Moyie River at Eastport rose from 3.79 feet at 9:45 a.m. Monday, December 8, to 6.25 feet at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, December 11. As of 6:45 a.m. today, the level had dropped to 5:54 feet. At Porthill, the Kootenai River went from 45.65 feet at 5:30 p.m. Monday to 50.99 feet at 12:45 a.m. Thursday, backing off to 50.59 at 6:45 this morning.
In Bonners Ferry, the Kootenai River rose from 50.68 feet at 5 a.m. Monday to 61.7 feet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. As of 6:45 a.m. today, the river had receded to 58.50. Action stage on the Kootenai River at Bonners Ferry is 57 feet, minor flooding occurs at 64 feet, moderate flooding at 70 feet and major flooding at 70.
According to the National Weather Service, rain is likely today in Bonners Ferry and we get a respite of sorts through the weekend with mere 30- to 40-percent chances of showers. But we could see more record high temperatures in the 50s on Saturday, which will bring more high-country snow into the valley as water.
And then comes Monday, with a near certainty of rain …possibly as much as an inch, followed by six days of above-freezing temperatures, four of them with the possibility of rain or snow.
