What a difference a year makes.

By this time last November the ground was covered with snow. It didn’t bare off for more than five months.

Today it’s sunny and 50 degrees with more of the same in the extended forecast.

Sunny and warm is hard to complain about, but sunny and warm in Montana this time of year never bodes well. We live with the ever-looming specter of drought.

Last year’s bountiful snowpack and spring rains hardly got us through July before it all dried up once again. The stock ponds that were brim full in June were empty by September. The green that covered the landscap...