Flathead Valley goes into the deep freeze

David Erickson / Whitefish Pilot

By DAVID ERICKSON

Whitefish Pilot

Another extremely cold arctic air mass is expected to roll into Northwest Montana today or tomorrow, continuing a trend of freezing temperatures throughout the weekend.

According to the National Weather Service Web site, cold temperatures will remain through the weekend and into next week, and a chance of accumulating snow is anticipated in the region Wednesday through Friday.

Wind-chill warnings and weather advisories were posted for the entire state through this past Monday. Pipes froze, trees were knocked down and a Ronan man was killed on Highway 35 when a tree blew onto his vehicle on Saturday.

The weather conditions across the state exceeded the technical definition of a blizzard, which includes heavy blowing or falling snow, winds greater than 35 mph, and reduced visibility below a quarter of a mile for three hours or more.

At Whitefish Mountain Resort, strong winds knocked down a swath of trees next to the Easy Rider base terminal, endangering lift riders and closing the entire resort on Saturday. The lumber from the fallen trees will be used to make signs, resort spokesperson Donnie Clapp said

“We had gusts up to 50 mph,” Clapp said. “The wind chill at the summit was recorded at minus 64.”

Clapp said chairlifts have safety sensors that measure how much deflection, or movement, the cables have off their tracks. The sensors automatically shut down the chairlifts if they move past a certain safe point.

“We decided to shut it down because, if the lifts shut down and people were on the lifts, they would be in that cold for too long,” he said. “Getting people off a stopped lift isn’t an extremely fast process.”

Ski patrollers are trained to use climbing gear to evacuate riders off of chairlifts, but it’s a time-consuming process.

“We just decided it wasn’t worth it,” Clapp said.

On Sunday, the resort opened Chair 2 in the afternoon, along with Chair 6 and Magic Carpet Ride. The parking lots were nearly empty, however.

For updated weather information, advisories and road closures, visit online at www.wrh.noaa.gov/mso.