Flood — Flathead, Montana

2022-06-12 to 2022-06-26 · near Kalispell, Flathead, Montana

Event narrative

The Flathead River at Columbia Falls reached minor flood stage on June 12 as Flathead Lake reached full pool, and continued at minor flood stage until June 26. Impacts included groundwater flooding agricultural fields along the Steel Bridge Road. Also water flooded recreational vehicle sites and surrounded some trailer homes just northwest of the Highway 35 bridge over the Flathead River. This event did prompt Flathead County to spin up an Emergency Operations Center with the Sheriff as the IC.

Wider weather episode

Periods of convective and upslope precipitation brought areal and river flooding June 11 through June 16. Rainfall of 2 to 6 inches was common for the lower elevations of Northwest Montana between June 11 and June 15. Mountain locations received up to 10 inches of moisture over the same period. River flooding continued well into late June for the Flathead River.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (48.1983, -114.3033)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1027776. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.