How Montana’s Weather Is Changing
By Mya Ellis
Montana, as we know it, can experience a harsh winter, especially considering the temperatures below zero that have been recorded in the past.
According to the SCEC (State Climate Extremes Committee) records, on January 20th, 1954, Rogers Pass in Helena reported the coldest temperature yet at -70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Additionally, they received six feet of snow, and cold air from Canada blew overhead. Many continued to do their daily commutes, treating them as something they simply had to endure.
Meanwhile, the warmest temperature recorded was a whopping 117 degrees Fahrenheit, both dating back to July 5th, 1937, and July 20th, 1893, in Medicine Lake and Glendive, Montana.
Together, it becomes a shocking difference between the coldest and warmest temperatures of 187 degrees.
This is the most extreme range any of the 50 states has ever experienced. This still leaves the question of how this happened.
Montana’s climate is unique with our landscapes, mountain ranges, and high plain grasslands, to alpine rock and ice. Because of the location of Montana, it is exposed to diverse weather patterns and air masses. This can lead to warm, dry downslope winds that cause rapid winter warmings east of the Rockies during warmer seasons.
According to climate.gov, since the late 1800s to the 1950s, our global temperature has risen about 1.5-2°F.
By 2050, our temperatures will likely increase by 3-6°F due to global warming. This will impact Montana’s snow lines, causing faster melts and shifting our precipitation to wetter winters, falls, and springs, while having a drier summer.
Unfortunately, our conditions lead to heat waves, forest fires, droughts, crop stress, and earlier snowmelt, which is reducing our summer water availability.
Today, we are affecting our climate through fossil fuel combustion, agriculture, and transportation, driving up our greenhouse gas emissions.
All of the above alter daily weather patterns.
27% of our greenhouse gas emissions stem from electricity generation via coal and gas, followed by the transportation sector, which releases 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Our fossil fuel combustion with methane (livestock, landfills, and oil production) also contributes heavily to these percentages. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, trapping more heat in the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.
As a result, a warmer atmosphere, intensifying winds, and a reduction in winter precipitation in western areas increase the risk of forest fires and droughts. These changes affect our agriculture and water supplies, resulting in economic benefits and food insecurity.
Even mental and physical health is strained, seen through an increase in asthma, heart disease, respiratory issues, increased anxiety, etc., harming our quality of life.
As our trees continue to die off from fires and the use of pesticides is at an all-time high, Montana faces challenges to improve stability for its people.
By stabilizing our weather patterns through emission reductions, forest management, and community adaptations, we can aim to curb issues that intensify natural disasters.
Communities such as the MCPRP (Montana Climate Pollution Reduction Priorities) and BCP (Bozeman’s Climate Plan) are emphasizing and pursuing innovations in technology to support forest management, upgrading school infrastructures, advancing agricultural practices like soil health improvements, and focusing on transport and waste.
Although the outcome of climate change and weather patterns is uncertain, acting with integrity is part of the solution because doing nothing would define us far more than what’s already been lost. By adding up small actions, we can guarantee more control over a growing wave of climate change in the future.
