National Weather Service warns of wind chills

The Night of Lights celebration in Columbia Falls on Friday, Dec. 6, and opening day at Whitefish Mountain Resort on Saturday, Dec. 7, promise to be very cold affairs.

Columbia Falls and the Canyon will see dangerous wind chills starting Thursday and continuing into the weekend, the National Weather Service in Missoula is warning.

Another arctic cold front is expected to blow into the region Thursday night and into Friday. On Friday, temperatures will struggle to get into the single digits and could actually drop during the day, meteorologist Jeff Kitsmller said.

Coupled with winds in the 10 to 20 mph range creates a wind chill of 20 to 30 below zero. People should make sure pets and livestock have proper shelter, Kitsmller said, and anyone who goes outside should bundle up, particularly children. At those temperatures, it takes just a few minutes to get frostbite.

“Anyone outside for an extended period of time needs to take precautions,” he said.

The arctic weather could be the coldest Northwest Montana has been in the past three or four years, Kitsmiller said. Saturday morning looks to be colder yet, with readings of 10 below or colder.

Not much snow is expected with the cold. Kitsmiller forecasts cloudy weather, with just a fine dusting of snow and continuing cold into next week.