By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
A strong thunderstorm Tuesday evening brought some much-needed rain to the Glendive area, though unfortunately it appears as though most of the rain fell in town rather than out in the surrounding countryside, where farmers and ranchers are suffering from encroaching drought.
On Wednesday morning, Alan Hickford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Glasgow reporting station, reported that Glendive received an official total of 0.46 inches from the storm.
That brings Glendive up to 1.28 inches for the month of June with just a couple of days left in the month. Barring any additional rainfall over the next two days, June 2017 looks like it will go down as the 18th driest June on record in Glendive. June is typically the wettest month of the year for Glendive, and the city averages 2.44 inches during the month.
As dry as this June has been however, it’s a far cry from the absolute worst June on record for Glendive, Hickford noted. That was June 2007, when a paltry 0.6 inches of rain was recorded.
To date this year, Glendive has received a total of 4.61 inches of precipitation. That’s well off the average mark as well, and Hickford noted that total currently places Glendive on pace for its 16th driest year on record.
Hickford noted, however, that the total to date is also much better than the worst January 1 to June 30 total for Glendive. That happened in 1988, when the city only receieved 2.75 inches of precipitation during the first six months of the year.
However, though Tuesday’s storm brought some relief to Glendive, as noted, it appears to have largely missed much of the rest of Dawson County.
Hickford said the rain was “pretty localized.” He noted that an observer 6 miles southwest of Glendive reported just 0.17 inches, and that he could find no other reports from any other location in the county that got more than 0.04 inches.
The worsening drought conditions have led to fireworks and burn bans in the city and the county. And last Friday, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock issued an executive order declaring a “drought emergency” in Dawson County and 18 other Eastern Montana counties.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.
