Record Rainfall in Havre, Flood Warning for Clear Creek at Chinook.

To quote Luke Bryan, "Rain is a good thing," and nowhere is it more appreciated than dryland farm country. The National Weather Service (NWS) has published a summary of cumulative rainfall reports for this current storm system, and the numbers are welcome news for some areas, mighty impressive for others, and record-setting for the Havre and Chinook areas.

In Havre, 2.59" of rain fell from Monday morning through 6am Tuesday morning, which is a new record amount of rain for May 7th... and more than triple the previous record of .78" set in 1889.  The 2-day storm total for Havre is 3.22", as of 6am this morning.

Chinook reported 1.60" of rainfall in the first 24-hours of the storm, doubling the old record of .78" for May 7, set in 1927. Another 1.3" fell between 6am Tuesday and 6am this morning, bringing the storm total to 2.9". The NWS has posted a Flood Warning for Clear Creek at Chinook. Flood stage there is 5.5ft, but before sunrise, the river had already reached 7ft.  The river is forecast to crest at 7.2 feet this afternoon, then fall below flood stage just after midnight tonight.

The following are some of the 48-hour rainfall totals reported across North Central Montana, as of this morning. Radar indicated rain was still falling at most locations at the time of the report.

.Blaine...
Chinook Coop 2.90 in 05 AM 05/08

.Cascade...
Great Falls 1.13 in 06 AM 05/08

.Chouteau...
The Knees - E of Brady 1.08 in 06 AM 05/08
Rudyard Coop 0.65 in 06 AM 05/08

.Glacier...
Del Bonita 1.33 in 06 AM 05/08
Cut Bank 0.53 in 05 AM 05/08
St Mary 0.51 in 05 AM 05/08
Babb 0.47 in 05 AM 05/08
Browni 0.42 in 05 AM 05/08

.Hill...
Havre Airport 3.22 in 06 AM 05/08

.Judith Basin...
Stanford 0.89 in 06 AM 05/08

.Lewis and Clark...
Helena Airport 0.77 in 06 AM 05/08
Simms 0.71 in 06 AM 05/08
Augusta - Gibson Dam 0.37 in 06 AM 05/08

.Liberty...
Lothair 2.32 in 03 AM 05/08

.Pondera...
Conrad 2.03 in 03 AM 05/08

.Teton...
Power 1.28 in 06 AM 05/08
Fairfield 1.14 in 06 AM 05/08
Choteau 0.61 in 05 AM 05/08
Bynum 0.57 in 06 AM 05/08
Augusta 0.57 in 06 AM 05/08

.Toole...
Milk River 2.38 in 06 AM 05/08
Shelby (KSEN STUDIO) 0.86 9am 05/08