Montana Counties

MONTANA · 56 COUNTIES TRACKED DAILY

Montana Counties

Live snowpack, drought, streamflow, soil moisture, rainfall, and forage outlook — for every county in Montana, refreshed each morning.

Use this page to:
  • Click your county on the Montana map just below to open its full conditions dashboard.
  • Or use the Western / Central / Eastern buttons beneath the map to narrow the list to one region.
  • Or type a county name into the search box to jump straight to that county.
Updated every morning at 5:30 AM Mountain · sources: NRCS AWDB, USDM, USGS NWIS, MT Mesonet, and NOAA NCEI

All 56 counties at a glance — colour and number are the current Forage Score. Hover any county for its score and drought class; click to open the county page. Updated each morning.

Garfield County — Forage 42/100 · D242Liberty County — Forage 42/100 · D042Golden Valley County — Forage 34/100 · D334Beaverhead County — Forage 53/100 · D253Wheatland County — Forage 34/100 · D334Lewis and Clark County — Forage 59/100 · D059Ravalli County — Forage 46/100 · D046Flathead County — Forage 57/100 · None57Sanders County — Forage 58/100 · D158Petroleum County — Forage 44/100 · D244Broadwater County — Forage 44/100 · D144Musselshell County — Forage 37/100 · D237Wibaux County — Forage 41/100 · D241Richland County — Forage 38/100 · D238Roosevelt County — Forage 45/100 · D145Phillips County — Forage 43/100 · D043Yellowstone County — Forage 39/100 · D239Meagher County — Forage 51/100 · D251Custer County — Forage 37/100 · D237Powder River County — Forage 35/100 · D235Lincoln County — Forage 55/100 · D155Gallatin County — Forage 43/100 · D143Jefferson County — Forage 54/100 · D154Judith Basin County — Forage 47/100 · D247Teton County — Forage 55/100 · D055Mineral County — Forage 54/100 · D254Deer Lodge County — Forage 60/100 · D160Silver Bow County — Forage 52/100 · D152Madison County — Forage 39/100 · D139Fallon County — Forage 35/100 · D235Carter County — Forage 36/100 · D236Hill County — Forage 56/100 · D156Fergus County — Forage 45/100 · D245Chouteau County — Forage 45/100 · D045McCone County — Forage 44/100 · D144Valley County — Forage 44/100 · D044Treasure County — Forage 42/100 · D242Stillwater County — Forage 40/100 · D340Lake County — Forage 50/100 · None50Missoula County — Forage 56/100 · D056Powell County — Forage 61/100 · D161Glacier County — Forage 59/100 · D059Rosebud County — Forage 38/100 · D238Sweet Grass County — Forage 41/100 · D341Pondera County — Forage 51/100 · D051Daniels County — Forage 50/100 · D050Park County — Forage 52/100 · D252Prairie County — Forage 41/100 · D241Big Horn County — Forage 38/100 · D238Dawson County — Forage 33/100 · D233Blaine County — Forage 44/100 · D144Toole County — Forage 41/100 · D041Sheridan County — Forage 49/100 · D149Granite County — Forage 56/100 · D056Carbon County — Forage 38/100 · D238Cascade County — Forage 43/100 · D143
Very Poor 0-19Poor 20-39Fair 40-59Good 60-79Excellent 80-100

Highest stress right now

Forage Score is a 0-100 composite of U.S. Drought Monitor status, growing-season rainfall (NCEI county rank), and satellite rangeland vegetation — relative to each county’s own history. Snowpack is not used in the growing-season read. Regional screening signal, not a pasture-level inventory. Refreshed each morning · as of 2026-08-02. Prepared by Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI.

Western Montana 15 counties

Beaverhead D0
68 /100
Snowpack 92%
Deer Lodge D0
72 /100
Snowpack 105%
Flathead D0
74 /100
Snowpack 108%
Granite D0
70 /100
Snowpack 102%
Jefferson D0
64 /100
Snowpack 88%
Lake D0
71 /100
Snowpack 99%
Lewis and Clark D0
62 /100
Snowpack 84%
Lincoln D0
76 /100
Snowpack 112%
Madison D0
66 /100
Snowpack 95%
Mineral D0
73 /100
Snowpack 106%
Missoula D0
69 /100
Snowpack 97%
Powell D0
67 /100
Snowpack 93%
Ravalli D0
71 /100
Snowpack 101%
Sanders D0
74 /100
Snowpack 109%
Silver Bow D0
65 /100
Snowpack 90%

Central Montana 23 counties

Blaine D2
42 /100
No SNOTEL
Broadwater D1
56 /100
Snowpack 78%
Carbon D1
60 /100
Snowpack 86%
Cascade D1
48 /100
Snowpack 70%
Chouteau D2
44 /100
No SNOTEL
Fergus D2
46 /100
No SNOTEL
Gallatin D1
59 /100
Snowpack 82%
Glacier D1
52 /100
Snowpack 76%
Golden Valley D2
41 /100
No SNOTEL
Hill D2
43 /100
No SNOTEL
Judith Basin D1
50 /100
Snowpack 72%
Liberty D2
40 /100
No SNOTEL
Meagher D2
49 /100
Snowpack 58%
Musselshell D2
38 /100
No SNOTEL
Park D2
51 /100
Snowpack 30%
Petroleum D3
32 /100
No SNOTEL
Phillips D2
35 /100
No SNOTEL
Pondera D1
47 /100
Snowpack 68%
Stillwater D1
55 /100
Snowpack 80%
Sweet Grass D2
53 /100
Snowpack 64%
Teton D1
51 /100
Snowpack 74%
Toole D2
39 /100
No SNOTEL
Wheatland D2
44 /100
No SNOTEL

Eastern Montana 18 counties

Big Horn D3
34 /100
No SNOTEL
Carter D3
28 /100
No SNOTEL
Custer D3
31 /100
No SNOTEL
Daniels D2
36 /100
No SNOTEL
Dawson D3
33 /100
No SNOTEL
Fallon D3
27 /100
No SNOTEL
Garfield D4
24 /100
No SNOTEL
McCone D3
30 /100
No SNOTEL
Powder River D4
26 /100
No SNOTEL
Prairie D3
29 /100
No SNOTEL
Richland D2
37 /100
No SNOTEL
Roosevelt D2
38 /100
No SNOTEL
Rosebud D3
32 /100
No SNOTEL
Sheridan D2
40 /100
No SNOTEL
Treasure D3
31 /100
No SNOTEL
Valley D2
35 /100
No SNOTEL
Wibaux D3
28 /100
No SNOTEL
Yellowstone D2
42 /100
No SNOTEL
No counties match your search. Try a shorter name or clear the filter.

What we measure · by source

Every county page pulls from five independent public data sources. Coverage varies by what each source actually measures — we report unavailable fields as “not available” rather than fabricating data.

USDM Drought
56 / 56
All counties · D0–D4 weekly
NOAA Precip Anomaly
56 / 56
All counties · 1, 3, 12-mo
USGS Streamflow
51 / 56
No gauge: Carter, Fallon, Garfield, Prairie, Wibaux
MT Mesonet Soil
37 / 56
Shallow + deep VWC
NRCS SNOTEL
26 / 56
Mountain counties · SWE + WY precip
Pipeline. Pulled daily at 5:30 AM Mountain via automated jobs from NRCS AWDB, USDA Drought Monitor, USGS Water Services, Montana Mesonet (UM Climate Office), and NOAA NCEI Climate at a Glance. When a source is unavailable for a county, the dashboard shows that field as “not available” rather than omitting it — so you always know what’s measured and what isn’t.
Methods & glossary · reading the county pages
Forage Score
0–100 composite of U.S. Drought Monitor status, growing-season rainfall (NCEI county rank), and satellite rangeland vegetation, relative to each county’s own history. Snowpack is not used in the growing-season read. Categories: 0–25 Poor, 26–50 Fair, 51–75 Good, 76–100 Excellent. Higher = better expected grazing-season forage. Currently computed primarily from snowpack percent-of-median; rangeland-scientist review of the composite formula is planned.
SWE · Snow Water Equivalent
Inches of liquid water in the snowpack — if you melted the snow at a SNOTEL station today, this is how much water you’d get. Higher SWE = more water stored for spring runoff and irrigation.
% of Median
Today’s value vs. the historical median for this calendar date. NRCS uses the median (not the mean) so a single wet or dry year doesn’t skew the baseline. Below 70% = below normal; above 110% = above normal.
SNOTEL
Snow Telemetry — NRCS-operated mountain weather stations. Montana has 96 active sites concentrated in the western and south-central counties. Plains counties without SNOTEL report “No SNOTEL” rather than displaying fabricated data.
D0–D4 · Drought class
U.S. Drought Monitor: D0 abnormally dry, D1 moderate, D2 severe, D3 extreme, D4 exceptional. The percentage shown on each county page tells you what fraction of the county area is at or worse than each band — a county can be 100% at D1 with 0% at D3.
VWC · Volumetric Water Content
The percent of soil volume that is water, measured by Montana Mesonet soil-moisture probes at shallow (5–10 cm) and deep (50–100 cm) profiles. Higher VWC = wetter soil. Useful early indicator of pasture green-up potential and drought stress.
CFS · Streamflow
Cubic Feet per Second — the standard unit for river discharge. Each county page reports the current value from its principal in-county USGS gauge, alongside a day-of-year percentile.
Percentile (streamflow)
50 = exactly typical for this calendar date. 19 = today’s flow is lower than 81% of all readings ever recorded for this date. 81 = lower than only 19%.
Precip Anomaly
Inches above or below the 10-year normal for trailing windows ending today (1-month, 3-month, 12-month). Not the water year — the Water-Year Precip tile on each county page is the water-year measure.
Water year
Hydrology runs Oct 1 → Sep 30. Most of a year’s snowpack accumulation is captured in the same season it melts.
BE-10
Montana Department of Livestock brand-inspection form for cattle. Recorded at change of ownership or interstate movement, so totals reflect transactions, not the standing herd.
Range Tools for Ranchers

Check your own ranch's range condition and 20-year trend for free with the USDA's Rangeland Analysis Platform — and learn how to read the results in ranching terms.

Read Your Own Ground: The RAP Guide →

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