For the final project, I chose to conduct my research on a weather station located in Philipsburg Montana. Montana is a gorgeous and wonderful place as I have learned due to the time I have spent there. The geography, landmarks, and just the general landscape of the state makes It second to none and I feel it is our duty as humans to protect the beauty and resources that It has to offer. Perhaps that it was why it’s often referred to as the “ Last Best Place”. The main reasoning behind choosing this station out of all the other ones throughout our country is because come May 16 Philipsburg, Montana will be my new home for the summer. What better way to learn about the climate of my soon to be home then writing an 8 page research paper on it?!
The location of the station is right in the small town of Philipsburg, Montana. The town of Philipsburg sits at about 5,269 feet above sea level. On the west coast of the United states the main part of the atmosphere circulation that this region experiences are westerly winds. Montana’s low humidity often translates into temperatures that are neither oppressively hot nor cold. Being that Philipsburg is located in western Montana, it has a milder climate than the eastern part of the state. With warmer winters, cooler summers, and lighter winds, the mild air from the pacific coast plays a big play in this. Most of the rain falls in the months of May and April with an average rainfall of 15 inches per year. Throughout July and august mid day thunderstorms are common and heavy downpours bring down the high afternoon temperatures. Average maximum temps are 80 degrees (F) in the summer months July and August. By the time September comes around the temps become a lot cooler. Winters in Montana are often cold and have the opportunity to contain a lot of snowfall. With the low temps of Philipsburg averaging around 16 degrees (F) during January and February. Winters in the western part can be harsh and can reach up to 25 feet of snow. In Philipsburg Montana, average snowfall totals for the year can average to about 68.6 inches.
The weather station is located in Phillipsburg, which is in the western part of Montana. The small town of Philipsburg is surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. The town is actually located in a valley named “Philipsburg Valley”. Along with being in the valley of mountains the weather station is also surrounded by multiple fresh water cold streams, rivers and creeks. Flint creek, camp creek, Marshall creek, and dirty dick creek to name a few. The surrounding mountains like Frank hill are at 6,400 feet above sea level and other peaks reach about 8,489 feet above sea level. These mountains have various different types of agriculture. Some are filled to the peak with forests made up of pine trees and aspens. Other can vary from wetlands to grasslands. The albedo levels of the surrounding land mass are around 0.28-0.35 according to NASA’s wide field infrared survey explorer. The surrounding land should be credited for helping the vast types of ecosystems that are sustainable and healthy. Including the animals and fisheries that call this place home. A local fishery, Rock creek is a world-renowned trout stream that is about a mile or so from the town of Philipsburg. Home to some of the best fisheries in the world, people travel from all across the world to come target the freshwater trout that live in the stunning creek
The ski industry would also be affected. The surrounding mountains that host thousands throughout the winter months would be negatively affected. The industry provides the people of Montana with 45,000 jobs annually. These jobs would be put in jeopardy if the climate keeps warming, due to the fact that the snow just wont be able to pile up over the winter months. With warmer temps during the spring and summer, the amount of runoff from the surrounding mountains would increase drastically during the spring months. The runoff would then naturally go to the surrounding creeks like rock creek, dirty dick creek, flint creek and camp creek. This would blow the creeks out of proportion and have a detrimental affect on the fisheries.
One of the main worries about climate change and the forage surrounding the weather station is drought. As climate warms drought becomes more of an apparent issue out west. The warmer temperatures are going to increase the amount of evaporation and water use by plants. With the increase in need for water for the plants it’s going to create a bigger drought, as plants need a lot more to be sustainable. With the increase of drought and temperatures comes an increase in the extent, severity, and frequency of wildfires, which in the summer months are already a threat to the surrounding country. Since 1984, on average about 2 percent of the state has burned from wildfires. The smoke from the wildfire will cause more air pollution and more air pollution will result in an increase of respiratory and heart problems for the people nearby the fires. The tree line on the mountains consisting Engelmann spruce tree compose the tree line and are the highest elevated trees. Due to the climate change the tree line is moving up the mountains because of the warmer temperatures. This will have a negative affect on the native plants that live above the tree line because their sustainability will be attacked as bigger strong trees take over the nutrients. Along with the plants, the warmer temps will also have the opportunity to positively affect ranchers and farmers that call Montana home. The warmer temperatures will in turn, allow for a longer growing season for the states popular crop of wheat. However, the warmer temps will give non native plants such as the Flowering Rush, to thrive for longer periods of time and outcompete the native plants that make the Western Montana plains so unique.
The changes that are projected to happen within the general circulation are pretty eye opening to begin with. Basically, the climate is being warmed, thus the term “global warming”. With global warming pretty much the whole circulation will become warmer. Starting in the Pacific Ocean the warmer waters will create warmer air winds that will be pushed down south towards the equator. Once the Hadley cell cycle the warmer will be pushed up north and then brought down again. They will be brought across the west, Montana specifically. Along with the Hadley cell model be affected the warmer temperatures from the west would be picked up by the jet stream and carried across the country to the east cost. With the warmer temperatures in Montana It will only fuel the fire of global warming creating a snowball affect in the genera circulation that eventually just keeps increasing in temperature until things become uncontrollably detrimental. This graph from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, displays the observed and temperature changes that Montana has experienced over the last hundred and ten years. Along with past it predicts what temperature changes will occur into the year 2100.
As temperatures are increasing in the town of Philipsburg or let alone Montana for that matter the affects have been stated. If the climate change began to get worst the affects would be much more detrimental on the global stage. For instance, instead of the snow melting off the mountains. Which would continue to blow out the surrounding creeks and rivers that the outdoor industry in Montana relies in the summer for income. The glaciers and massive ice sheets located at the poles would soon begin to melt and instead of just running down the mountain, they would run into the ocean and displace a large amount of water. Put on a scale that so much water displaced that the cities and towns that are on the coast or islands, like the Florida Keys or Sanibel Island would be in danger of literally going completely underwater. The wheat fields that have longer growing seasons because of less harsh winters could result in a global increase in agriculture yields. The increase could result in a major increase in farming resulting in more organic and naturally raised food to feed and help sustain the human population. If the dry climate continued and a drought came in, the large landmasses and countries like North America could be in large trouble. With a drought occurring it would be possible for wildfires to literally sweep across the country and take out multiple cities and towns as well as massive amounts of cropland. Crop damage could lead to massive starvations throughout populations.
Overall, Philipsburg Montana is full of great resources and ecosystems. It seems to be sustainable and healthy in comparison to other geographic locations throughout world. However, like anywhere on earth the possibility that global warming and climate change could drastically affect the ecosystem and local economy of the “last best place” or better known as the great state of Montana in a negative way is always prevailing. It is our duty as civilians and budding conservationists alike to take the matter into our own hands. We must do we what we can well we still have time to help protect and preserve these wonderful resources that our just out our backdoor. If we can come together and work towards leading a cleaner and more eco-friendly lifestyle we will soon seek the results we are so greatly hoping for. We are not doing this for ourselves. We must do this so we can someday see our own kids grandchildren enjoying the same beautiful earth that we once roamed and explored on as kids. If we don’t do this for them, the future of the planet and our children’s grandchildren’s life quality will be at an extreme risk.