Snow? (Bozeman, Kalispell, Belgrade: rent, travel, school)

[Stephan_K]

What areas of MT see the most snow each year? I wanna live there! Actually, I'm lookin for lots of snow, loads of trees, green grass & mountainous area to live in with awesome fishing! Oh, and within say 45 min of civilization with a decent school system.

Where in MT can i find all of this in one place? Not asking for too much here am I

Stephan

[ElkHunter]

Do you want it coming in sideways, or gently falling down?

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

Do you want it coming in sideways, or gently falling down?

Ahhhh......good question . Wonder if the sideways snow in MT as brutal as the sideways lake effect snow of NE Ohio.....

I'll take it either way bring it on!

[Stephan_K]

From the lack of post regarding the snowiest parts of MT, I get the impression that it doesn't snow there I don't think that is the case!

My research tells me that the Kalispell and the Whitefish areas get the most snow. Is this true?

[rickers]

If you want a real snowy place you are looking at the wrong state. Montana really isn't very snowy at all compaired to places near the great lakes that get all that lake effect snow and the Sierra Nevada or Cascade Mountains. Google "North Cascades" and see what I mean !

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Stephan_K

From the lack of post regarding the snowiest parts of MT, I get the impression that it doesn't snow there I don't think that is the case!

My research tells me that the Kalispell and the Whitefish areas get the most snow. Is this true?

I'm sorry I was busy and didn't get right back to you.

Montana has a lot of area and a lot of different snow patterns. To ask how the snow is, is asking like how each person feels about a subject in New York. You'll get a million different answers.

What area are you looking at, or are you looking at Montana in General. I'll certainly look it up on Weather.com for you.

[NYMTman]

It's your lucky day, since I'm a snow-lover and a meteorology minor

Of the major towns, Bozeman is the snowiest with nearly 100 inches of snow per year. Basically that puts you on par with the Lake Effect regions of upstate NY and Michigan, except that it's colder here so the snow sticks around longer and can occur as early as September and as late as August. Our last snow last winter was on May 29 when we measured over seven inches. Earliest snow was October 6 of this year when we recorded 8 inches. And of course we had flurries as early as mid-September but they didn't stick. Bozeman averages 120 days per year with snow on the ground, so realistically you're looking at constant snowcover (usually 4 to 12 inches, fluctuating between those numbers) from December through February and into early March. Last year Bozeman recieved 106.7 inches of snow, or slightly above average.

Kalispell and Whitefish do okay with snow... Kalispell averages something like 60 inches per year and Whitefish is around 75" IIRC. You can do much better than that if you want to live back in the mountains a bit... A while back I noticed a couple acres around West Glacier on sale for pretty cheap (relatively). You're realistically looking at 130-150 inches each winter around West Glacier. Combined with West Glacier's frigid temps, that is enough to give you a snowdepth of at least a few feet from December through March.

Another extremely snowy area is around Seeley Lake as well as Georgetown Lake. Both lakes average around 150 inches of snowfall per year. If you like fishing, you'll love Rock Creek, which is very close to Georgetown Lake.

A word of caution: Stay very far away from the centers of large valleys, which tend to be very dry (the exception is the Flathead Valley, since NW Montana just gets a ton of rain/snow compared to other areas of the state). For example, in the Gallatin Valley, Belgrade (at the valley's center) averages only 40 inches of snow per year, but Bozeman (at the valley's far east end and 500 feet above Belgrade) more than doubles that figure. Even just a little bit of elevation helps a LOT.

Here's the climate/snow statistics for all the recording stations across Montana. These are the official National Weather Service numbers:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/nidwmtF.html

Also here's a map of annual average precip. Your snowfall is likely going to be proportional to the total amount of precip displayed on this map since temperatures are not an issue here:

http://www.ocs.orst.edu/page_links/c...montana/mt.gif

Enjoy. Depending on where you live in this state, you can be absolutely hammered by the snow each winter, or left out to dry.

[Stephan_K]

Specifically I have been looking at the west side of flathead lake area to Kila and also the area east of Kalispell. And in general all around Flathead Lake. I've checked out the 'climate history' for the area and it is does receive a lot of snow compared to other cities/towns to the east and southeast.

I know weather patterns vary greatly as you travel form one town to another. It is rather difficult to get accurate climate info on specific areas as most of the climate data for a certain radius/area is from one single location within it which is most likely not the case across that whole area.

Example: In Cleveland OH on any given day, the east side of Rt 77 will be blasted with feet of snow while just across it on the west side will have a dusting, literally! Both sides have the exact same forecast and climate history data.

Just trying to find out if there are similar situations there from people that actually live there. I guess I should have been more specific as to the area I was looking at ...oops

Thanks for the help everyone........

[Stephan_K]

NYMTman........there's some data I'm looking for

[glacier1406]

If you are looking for more snow than down in the valley...look west of flathead valley to a little town called Marion just about 20 minutes out of Kalispell. When the snow melts down there we usually still have it up here. This year not as much as last year, but winters just begun. There is not much to this town but a couple of bars, stores and post office and Bitteroot lake is right down the road. Kinda nice being out of Kalispell but not too far.