East Glacier Park saw 49.5 inches of snow in last storm

East Glacier Park was slammed during the Dec. 27-30 snowstorm. The small village just outside of Glacier National Park saw a whopping 49.5 inches of snow.

The snowfall total makes it the third snowiest December on record for East Glacier, with 79 inches for the entire month, said National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Martin.

Other areas on the east side of the Park also saw big snowfall totals. A spotter in St. Mary measured 32 inches, another near Babb measured 48 inches.

West of the Divide snowfall totals were a bit lower. West Glacier saw about 20 inches and Kalispell saw about 13 inches.

The snow has helped the snowpack. The Flathead Basin is now 117 percent of average. But the avalanche danger has ramped up, too. A snowmobiler was partially buried up Grave Creek on Monday. The snowmobiler was dug out by a fellow snowmobiler and survived the incident.

The snowfall totals east of the divide were similar to a storm last February. In that storm, St. Mary saw even more snow — about 64 inches at the Hudson Bay Ranger Station.

On Tuesday a ground blizzard near Browning closed U.S. Highway 2 from Marias Pass to town and Highway 89 south to the Valier cutoff. The problem wasn’t snow falling, but wind blowing it around. The road reopened later in the day.

Temperatures east of the divide have moderated considerably. A few days ago they were well below zero. Today, they had already reached 40 at Great Falls, Martin said. West of the Divide, temperatures have been in the teens and low 20s, but are also supposed to moderate into the 30s by Friday and Saturday.

Another system is expected Friday into the weekend, but that should bring a rain-snow mix, and not nearly as much snow as the past storm, which mixed arctic air with Pacific moisture.