New Montana climate office requests $405,000 from state

“The snow’s coming in six hours,” Don Potts said, forecasting Missoula’s weather on Tuesday afternoon.

The Montana state climatologist and director of the Montana Climate Office sat in front of his computer and pointed to an ebbing blue shade moving over western Montana on a U.S. weather map.

“That’s important for me to know,” Potts said, “but also for other people as well.”

That’s just what UM forestry and conservation faculty members, Potts and Steve Running realized when they first discussed the idea for a state climate office. The public needed a service to provide easy access for important Montana-specific climate and weather information, they decided.

“We really see having adequate climate statistics are important for the state’s economy, and we don’t have that right now,” Running said.

The information could be useful in terms of knowing what to plant, when to move water and analyzing drought cycles, said Perry Brown, UM’s dean of the College of Forestry and Conservation.

The office would be a “supplier about climate and weather for a wide range of audiences,” Brown said.

That includes tourists, farmers, ranchers, community members and basically anyone who would find the information useful, he explained.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer designated a Montana Climate Office to be housed at UM three years ago, but a budget was not prepared in time for the last legislative session. As of now, there has been no funding.

The few services the existing Montana Climate Office now handles, including maintaining a website, have largely been conducted by Running and Potts on a volunteer basis.

Now, a $405,000 two-year budget request to fund the office will be presented before the Montana Board of Regents in March. If approved, the request will go before the governor for his OK. 

If Schweitzer and the state legislature agree to shell out the cash for the climate office, it would be housed in Running’s research laboratory.

Montana has been without a fully operational climate office for over a decade, Running said.

The Montana Climate Office was housed at Montana State University in Bozeman. But when the scientist who ran it retired, the office was closed down.

The new climate lab would also be used to chart climate trends for the state, Running explained.

Forty-nine states in the U.S. currently have climate offices, Potts said, making Montana the only odd state out. In addition, some offices have up to six employees, Potts said.

Running said his lab already has most of the equipment required for a climate office so the majority of the money would be used to hire an outreach coordinator and fund a climatologist position.

With the additional staff, Potts said the office could conduct research and teaching, but most importantly develop a more user-friendly website that would provide products to the public in the form of interactive maps and charts.

Potts pointed out an example on North Dakota’s Climate Office website, where detailed charts outlined specific growing temperatures for wheat. The Montana Climate Office website may provide information on irrigation demand, wind potential and temperatures in addition to precipitation.

UM President George Dennison said he supports a state climate office at UM.

“This is a good fit given the focus and orientation and the concerns of the students and faculty,” Dennison said, referring to the student body’s focus on sustainability.

In addition to providing educational opportunities, “this would be an important service to the agricultural industry, resource management and generally, the residents of Montana,” Dennison said.

But Running and Potts can’t get rolling just yet.

“It’s a long way from being a done deal,” Potts said emphasizing that it would be another year and a half before it would be voted on at the state Legislature; if it makes it that far.

But Brown said he is optimistic that the money will come through.

“We’re in an era where issues of climate and weather are critical to Montana,” Brown said.