HELENA, Mont. - Unusually heavy rain and snow flooded roads and closed schools in parts of Montana on Thursday as officials braced for a warm weekend that threatened to further swell creeks and rivers by melting mountain snowpack.

The National Weather Service reported more than a foot of snow in eastern Montana, where emergency travel only was advised on several highways because of low visibility and several schools were closed. The area reported flooding last weekend from heavy rain.

"This has been the biggest storm they've had in a long time and that's on top, of course, of all rain they had," meteorologist Todd Foisy in Billings said.

To the west, the ski town of Red Lodge was deluged by nearly 8 inches of rain combined with 9 inches of snow, although the Red Lodge Mountain Resort reported 38 inches of snow in the past few days. Officials dismissed schools early on Wednesday and limited school buses Thursday to paved roads because of poor road conditions. In Roberts, to the north, the school will remain closed for the rest of the week because of flooding, officials said.

Keith Meier, meteorologist in charge at the weather service office in Billings, said most of the runoff that had swollen Cooney Reservoir and flooded areas downstream had begun to recede, but officials were worried about melting snowpack in the nearby Beartooth Mountains.

"We're expecting that will come out on Friday and into Saturday as temperatures warm," Meier said. "That area may see a secondary problem this weekend."

Monique Lay, spokeswoman for the state Disaster and Emergency Services Division of the Department of Military Affairs, said officials were monitoring conditions for possible emergency or disaster declarations.

Waters over south-central and southeastern Montana have risen over the past few days as a powerful winter storm dropped rain and snow everywhere south of the Missouri River.

Flood warnings were issued for southern Rosebud, southern Big Horn and Powder River counties in southeastern Montana, with officials in Rosebud County anticipating problems with the Tongue River, Foisy said.

Small stream flood warnings remained in effect in Carbon, Stillwater and Sweet Grass counties until noon Friday. Local roads in several counties were closed due to flooding.

Flooding also was reported along the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains, especially along the Dearborn River in Lewis and Clark County and western Cascade County, but no property major damage was reported.

Other small streams in Lewis and Clark County also were running high, and county officials were monitoring the Mike Horse Dam near the headwaters of the Blackfoot River, 20 miles east of Lincoln. Studies have shown the dam below the defunct Mikehorse Mine is deteriorating, and U.S. Forest Service and Asarco officials have been monitoring its condition.

In 1975, the dam ruptured and high levels of lead, copper and zinc poured into the river.

Amber Kamps, a district ranger for the Helena National Forest, said the dam was holding Thursday morning and no problems had been reported.