Montana's snowpack nears average despite mild winter

KALISPELL, Mont. — Officials say snowpack in Montana remains close to average despite a mild winter.

The Flathead Beacon reports the close-to-normal snowpack is largely thanks to autumn snowfall.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service says the early snowfall particularly favored regions along the Continental Divide in western and south-central Montana, where the highest snowpack percentages are found.

Some of those basins were at normal or slightly above normal when the agency's report was published on Jan. 1.

The agency measures snowpack in terms of snow-water equivalent, defined as "the amount of liquid water contained within the snowpack."

The agency says "it is the amount of water that will be released from the snowpack when it melts."

The agency's Montana Snow Survey will issue its next Snowpack and Water Supply Outlook on Feb. 1.