Snow Day!

For those of you that know me, you probably would never have thought you would hear the words "It is good to see the snow!" come out of my mouth. However, this morning I woke up to see about an inch of new snow blanketing the valley. I have never been so happy to see the white stuff this late in the winter/early spring. If you have been following our snow pack, or for better words lack-thereof, you know we need every little bit we can get at this point. The Bitterroot Range is currently sitting at 51% of average for this time of the year and the Bitterroot River is at record low flows.

The one thing I am staying positive about this year is the fact that it is a heavy El Nino year. Typically during an El Nino year we get a lot of storms late spring (April and May) and our summers are usually cooler and wetter than normal. So we have that going for us, which is nice. Another factor to stay positive about is the fact that our fish are in the best shape anyone has ever seen for this time of the year. Typically, our fish are a little skinny this time of year due to the fact that they have dined almost exclusively on midges. This year the fish in the Bitterroot River look like they have been eating Salmonflies all winter. Even the brown trout, which are usually the skinniest this time of the year, are all fat and healthy. So instead of focusing on the doom and gloom of having very little water in the mountains, I am staying positive with a watchful eye on the weather satellite images. We really only need a few good storms to get our snow pack up to acceptable levels.