Montana News Roundup: Summer Returns Quickly This Week

Montana weather is slowly getting back to "summer normal". After a cold start with frost and below freezing temps this morning, and a weekend that brought heavy rain, unseasonably cold temperatures, and even some snow to the high country, conditions will quickly rebound.

Most of that snow impact was limited to the high country along the Northern Divide, where several inches of snow, and as much as two inches of "liquid precipitation", or in other words, rain and snow, fell through the weekend.

Glacier National Park rangers are expected to announce later this morning whether Going-to-the-Sun Road will reopen.

     📹  Web cams were already showing that some of the snow was coming off as temperatures recovered Sunday evening.

Wet weather was a big help on this wildfire

The colder weather was perfect for firefighters working on the lightning-caused Jericho Mountain Fire near MacDonald Pass.

The latest information last night shows it is holding at just over 350 acres with "minimal" fire behavior. Crews continued to work fire lines on Telegraph Creek and the Minnehaha Road areas, and set up structure protection in the historic town of Rimini below the fire.

Zinke says public land sale won't ease national debt

Representative Ryan Zinke is discounting the idea that selling off public lands is a way to reduce the national debt.

Zinke says it's "folly" to think that selling off public lands is going to help cut the national debt.

Additionally, Zinke says the proposal floating around Washington as part of the current GOP budget proposal isn't using the kind of careful consideration that such important lands deserve.

Zinke says it may make some sense to identify smaller parcels of federally owned land no longer used by the federal government, such as vacant agency property, if adjacent to communities and available for other use.

     🏞️ However, both he and Senator Steve Daines argue that the broader selloff doesn't make sense.

READ MORE: The public land sale debate

Support for Iran bombing from Montana leaders

As expected, Montana's GOP-controlled Congressional delegation is showing strong support for President Trump's decision to conduct bombing runs over the weekend in an effort to control Iran's nuclear development program.

Senior Senator Steve Daines noted Iran is the "world's largest sponsor of terror", saying that "stopping Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is a major step forward toward achieving peace."  Senator Tim Sheehy is calling it the "right decision," saying Iran had "every opportunity to give up its nukes."