Montana

The weather is going to be pretty messy in and around Yellowstone National Park on Monday. Several inches of snow is expected to fall, with up to 6" in the highest elevations surrounding the Park. Driving conditions could deteriorate quickly if you're in the area.

It hasn't been a great week for Montana's new positive COVID-19 case count. With Gallatin County's vaccination rate sitting idly at 61% (which is better than many counties in the state), where do we go from here?

Dare I say, some are even a bargain? After a solid 18 months of RIDICULOUSLY high rental car rates, prices seem to have come way back down to earth...for now. But who knows what ski season may bring.

We sort of knew it was coming, right? We knew heavy, wet snow was on the way and most of our trees have not yet lost their leaves. That's a dangerous combination in Montana.

We might have quite a mess on our hands...a Winter Storm Warning (that's the big deal one), is in effect for Gallatin and Madison Counties until Noon on Tuesday. Several inches of snow is expected in the valleys with up to 18" of snow to accumulate in the mountains.

Montana has some good ones, but a surprisingly LOW number of National Historic Landmarks compared to most other states. With all of our Lewis and Clark type history, you'd think Montana would absolutely dominate the West at least. But we don't even win that category.

Free entrance days to our National Parks are awesome. They're even better when the place is not a zoo, with bumper-to-bumper traffic. November is that time so plan now for the last fee-free day of 2021.

We're in trouble. This isn't a "shake your head" broken record thing anymore. Montana towns are in deep, serious, fast-moving financial transformation. I've sugar-coated my personal concerns about Bozeman's change up until now. I can't do that anymore.

Fall doesn't always last very long around here but whatever time Montana gets, it's usually stunning and packed with colors rarely seen in nature. The Bozeman area wasted no time...when the calendar said "Fall", the area responded.

Montana wilderness has bears. Montana TOWNS have bears right now too. There are a few very simple but absolutely crucial things you must do NOW to ensure black bears don't cause any trouble in your 'hood.

C'mon. I'm pretty laid back with the tourists. I was a tourist here too, decades ago. But things like this just make some visitors a glaring target for growliness from locals. THIS ONE for about three different reasons.

It's been modified a couple of times over the years but the flag of Montana (as we know it) was essentially born in 1905. But Montana became a state in 1889. What gives?