Edward O'Brien

It’s not your imagination: It’s been an unusually cool Montana May. That’s about to change in a big way.

A high-pressure system building over western Montana will lead to temperatures warming to near 90 degrees by Friday. That’s 15-20 degrees above normal for this time of the year according to National Weather Service-Missoula meteorologist Jeff Kitsmiller.

The University of Montana’s executive vice president and provost is leaving for a new position in online education.

The University hired outgoing Provost Jon Harbor just over two years ago. Harbor came to Missoula from Purdue University, where he served as an associate vice provost and the executive director of digital education.

Widespread heavy rain showers are rolling through Montana Monday evening. They are expected to intensify through the week, meaning rivers and streams will soon be on the rise.

Steady rain and driving rain storms will be the predominant weather throughout the northern Rockies this week, according to National Weather Service-Missoula hydrologist Ray Nicolas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed how massage therapists, nail techs, tattoo artists and barbers do their work. Hair salons and other personal care services are reopening for business, but under new guidelines from state and local officials.

MTPR's Edward O’Brien got a haircut this week and takes us along to show what’s changed at one Missoula barber shop.

State health department officials gave legislators an update Monday on the agency’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials say that response has a lot of moving pieces, but they’re learning fast and keeping pace.

Missoula hasn’t had a new COVID-19 case in more than two weeks and the local health department says there are no active cases in the county. That means health orders affecting some local businesses are about to change.

The phones of Missoula barbers and hair stylists have likely been blowing up since this morning when word came down they’ll soon be back in business.

New national wildfire response plans released Thursday give us a better picture of what firefighting will now look like in the COVID-19 era.

The days of big fire camps, those self-contained cities that seem to magically appear in open fields overnight are, at least for this year, a thing of the past. Under new guidelines released Thursday, they’re being replaced with a system designed to foster proper social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fire experts are predicting an above average potential for wildfires in Montana later this summer. The state’s existing normal to slightly-above-normal snowpack buys us time, but anticipated warmer and drier than average conditions could significantly raise the stakes by late summer. 

Montana’s June 2 primary election is less than a month off, and candidates are busy carving out positions, and campaigning as best they can during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of them participated in last Thursday's online forum discussing what health care providers say is the state’s rapidly deteriorating behavioral health system.