The National Weather Service office in Great Falls had a busy week, and not in a good way. Flash flood watches covered portions of southeast and central Lewis and Clark County on successive days — the burn scar country east of Helena remains especially vulnerable — while a Heat Advisory ran through Monday evening for Helena and much of southwest Montana. Eastern Montana shattered heat records near Glendive, and a Forsyth reading briefly circulated as a potential all-time state record before the NWS declined to certify it. Ranchers across the eastern part of the state scrambled to protect livestock. For Helena residents, the pattern is hard to ignore: an alternating drumbeat of dangerous heat and flash flood risk that forecasters say will continue through the weekend with afternoon and evening thunderstorms. The National Weather Service Great Falls office appeared in four separate stories this week, more than almost any other single entity in the digest. Whether you're a rancher watching your cattle in 100-plus-degree heat or a hiker in the hills east of town, this is a summer that is demanding attention.