HELENA — During a Montana Drought and Water Supply Advisory Committee meeting, experts suggested that June is a make-or-break month for drought.
"This year, we're set up on the drier side to start June," said Troy Blanford, a water information manager for the Montana State Library. "It's going to take June to improve conditions and really get through July [and] August. We're hoping for June [precipitation] to carry us a little bit further than typical."
Watch to hear from state officials about drought conditions:
The advisory committee meeting was held at the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) with various state leaders from the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
Blanford presented on the state's water supply outlook and current conditions.
While there were some pockets of significant moisture in April and May, Blanford says overall statewide conditions were drier, and more precipitation is needed this month, especially in Northeast Montana along the Hi-Line.
For the west side of the state, early snow melt has caused drier conditions within the last 60 days.
"That's not setting us up great for when the heat really comes in July and August – thinking about fire season in that part of the state," said Blanford.
He says the bulk of snowmelt appears to have happened a few months ago when it usually occurs around this time of year.
"What was interesting this year was we had a really good snowpack in February, but then we had a warmup in March," said Blanford. "We had an earlier warmup that started to melt some of that snow [and] get it into the soil."
According to his presentation, vegetation around the state is looking less green and lush than it was last year.
"The more drought, the more dry it is, the drier those fuels," Blanford said. "That's what starts a fire, and that's what keeps the fires big and growing."
Near the end of the meeting, DNRC director Amanda Kaster compared the potential for this summer's fire season to those of 2017 and 2021.
Mirroring sentiments from Governor Greg Gianforte's fire outlook briefing on Monday.
Kaster also mentioned the Governor's fire briefing from earlier this week, saying she believes the state is prepared for what's to come.
Officials also discussed how they plan to restart the St. Mary siphon to divert water into the Milk River, restoring water to a critical irrigation system along the Montana Hi-Line.
A replacement of the St. Mary siphon is underway, with the installation of expansion joints and inlet and outlet construction happening this month.
According to the reservoir and river operations supervisor with the Bureau of Reclamation, Clayton Jordon, the St. Mary Canal will start up on July 1st and will shut down on August 15th to help with the replacement of the Halls Coulee Siphon.
You may remember when the siphon suffered major structural failures last June, flooding the area around the irrigation pipe and leaving water managers unable to divert water from the St. Mary River to the Milk River last summer.
That created significant concern among the 14,000 Montanans who get drinking water from the Milk River and the more than 18,000 irrigators who rely on it for agriculture.
"The failure really does provide the action," said Jordon. "It's some of the action needed to make it happen, unfortunately."
As for an update on the St. Mary Diversion Dam replacement, the bypass canal and de-watering system are complete, with the whole project expected to be done in November of 2027.
You can find more information about the Milk River Project and the siphon failure by visiting milkriverproject.com.
