The National Weather Service office in Great Falls issued a Flood Watch on September 8 at 5:10 a.m. MDT for a stretch of north-central Montana, with the watch set to expire at noon the same day. The watch covered areas including the East Glacier Park Region, Eastern and Western Glacier, Western Toole, Central and Eastern Pondera, Eastern Teton, Eastern Toole and Liberty, the Northern and Southern High Plains, and the Southern Rocky Mountain Front.
The watch was driven by the continued possibility of flooding from excessive rainfall already moving through the region. A Flood Watch means conditions are favorable for flooding to develop — not that flooding is guaranteed — but residents and travelers in the listed counties were advised to stay alert to changing conditions, especially near low-lying areas and streams.
Though the watch area does not include Lewis and Clark County directly, the Southern Rocky Mountain Front zone puts the watch corridor within range of communities that share drainage systems with the Helena Valley. Anyone with property or travel plans in the affected counties was encouraged to monitor NWS Great Falls updates.