your homegrown newspaper
Happy Thanksgiving!
$1.25 Vol. 19, No. 10
November 23, 2022
Brewery pg. 6
PORTER COUNTS / VALLEY JOURNAL PHOTO
Donations pg. 14
Land pg. 18
Climatologists, CSKT address local climate realities By Taylor Davison / Valley Journal
FLATHEAD RESERVATION — Climate extremes in Montana and possible solutions were the topics of a statewide webinar hosted by the League of Women Voters on Nov. 16. Speakers included State Climatologist, Kelsey Jensco, Department Head for Historic Preservation for the CSKT, Mike Durglo Jr., and Gwen Lankford of the CSKT Climate Change Advisory Committee. Attendees talked through the
local realities of climate change. Jensco opened things up with an explanation of climatology. While Montana is geographically complex, which causes some difficulty when it comes to understanding and predicting future conditions, it is also a headwater state. This means the land area drains from Montana to the Missouri River Basin, the Columbia River Basin and the South Saskatchewan River Basin, leaving Montana with a disproportionate impact on the U.S.
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According to studies conducted by climatologists, Montana’s average temperature has increased by .42 degrees Fahrenheit per decade over the last 65 years, bringing the current average annual temperature to 45 degrees. In comparison, the average annual temperature in the U.S. has increased by .26 degrees per decade since 1950. While longer periods of warmer temperatures might mean longer growing seasons, Jensco explained that it also results in an elimination of critical
moisture. Warmer temperatures will result in an earlier snowmelt, resulting in snowpack storage decline by April. This can result in flash droughts brought on by warm temperatures and low rainfall in May and June, which can also lead to an increase in forest fires. Inversely, the melting of snowpack can swing the issue in the opposite direction and cause extreme flooding. The combination of earlier melting snow, along with the movement of warm and see page 2