Missoula Has Coldest Start to the Year Since 1979

It’s not your imagination, this really has been a very wet and very cold start of the year in western Montana, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Bob Nester has been gathering information about the first four months of the year.

“It’s been a wet April,” said Nester. “It’s been our fourth wettest April on record. We had 2.81 inches in April, which is about 1.6 inches above normal for the Missoula. Even though temperatures are near normal, here’s a fact I thought was really interesting. This is the coldest start to the year in 40 years, since 1979. The records were set in 1893 and 1899. Our average temperature since January 1^st is 27.3 degrees and it hasn’t been this cold since 1979 where the average temperature than was 26.5 and this year it’s been 27.3.”

Nester said dating back to 1893, this year has been the 12^th coldest on record.

Looking forward, Nester said temperatures will get closer to normal which for this time of year is in the low 60’s.

“Even though we’re going to be below normal, our temperatures are going to be in the upper 50’s to lower 60’s for the next couple of weeks,” he said.