The relentless atmospheric river that drenched Montana in December helped ease drought conditions while also delivering robust snowfall to the state’s highest terrain.

Colder, high-elevation areas saw most precipitation fall as snow during the pre-Christmas deluge and absorbed any rain into the existing snowpack, according to January’s statewide water supply outlook report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. As a result, snowpack is near to above normal across most of Montana.

The Flathead Basin snowpack, measured by its snow water equivalent, was at 109% of normal at the end of December, while the Kootenai was at 107%.

However, because of the unseasonably warm temperatures, hydrologists are describing the winter as a “tale of two snowpacks.” Montana’s mountain ranges are significantly outpacing low-elevation snowpack, where much of the December precipitation fell as rain.

“It could be easy to assume by the grass in the valleys and the patches of dirt on south-facing slopes that Montana is off to a slow winter,” the water outlook report states. “Low-elevation SNOTEL stations across much of the state might confirm this assumption, with snow water equivalent values consistently below 70% of median. But a little higher, where the snowpack stores the highest volumes of water, snow monitoring stations show a different trend.”

Whether rain or snow, December’s precipitation totals were record-setting. All basins received well above normal monthly totals ranging from 170% to more than 300% of median. In the Flathead Basin, December’s precipitation was at 211% of normal. Thirty-three Montana SNOTEL sites set December precipitation records, and 37 recorded their second highest.

In some parts of Northwest Montana, nearly 2 feet of rain was recorded last month, which led to the historic floods in southern Lincoln County that washed out roads and bridges from Libby to Troy.

A SNOTEL site at Poorman Creek in the Kootenai Basin recorded 22.8 inches of precipitation in December, compared with the normal 8.8 inches. Flattop Mountain in Glacier National Park recorded 20.1 inches, compared with the normal 8.8 inches.

Since the start of the water year, drought conditions across Montana have vastly improved. The most recent drought map indicates 51.4% of the state is classified as abnormally dry to extreme drought.

“This is a significant decrease from three months ago, when 78.1% of the state was experiencing drought within the range,” the report states.

Roughly half of the state is not experiencing drought, compared with this time last year, when 6.7% was drought-free.

“Current moisture levels could potentially improve runoff efficiency in the spring, but continued snowpack accumulation at all elevations will be critical for long-term water supply,” the report states.

According to the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, Montana is expected to see normal to above-normal temperatures over the next month, along with above-normal precipitation.