Bitter cold expected to stick around into next week
A pedestrian walks down a snowy Nucleus Avenue Monday.
Hungry Horse News
The cold and snow that came last week promises to stay with us through the weekend, with highs in the upper 20s and low 30s and lows dipping into the single digits Friday night and the teens the rest of time.
On Tuesday it was 5 degrees in Columbia Falls about 7 a.m.
The snow over the past few days has closed down Glacier National Park’s roads on the east side. The Sun Road as of presstime was closed at St. Mary and the Two Medicine and Many Glacier Roads were closed. There is a chance they could reopen further into the valleys, but the weather isn’t very promising.
On the west side, folks are reminded the Going-to-the-Sun Road will not be open past the T intersection in Apgar until May of next year, as crews continue to do utility work that requires a full closure of the road.
That means no skiing the road this winter. Anyone caught in the construction area could be ticketed, the park notes.
The park is upgrading sewer, water and telephone lines as well as putting in a new lift station at Lake McDonald Lodge.
The park plans on plowing more of the Apgar Visitor Center parking lot this winter to give visitors a place to park.
Glacier stops plowing the Camas Road on Jan. 1, which will limit winter recreation in the area to just a handful of trails. Though once the Camas Road fills in with snow, it offers nice views into the mountains once a person gains the hillside.
The weekend weather in the Flathead Valley was actually better than forecasted, with partly sunny skies. The arctic air didn’t blow into the valley until later Sunday.
Monday saw about an inch of snow in Columbia Falls.
Last week Columbia Falls saw about 4 inches of snow, with more to the south in Kalispell. Thousands were without power due to the storm Nov. 2, but Columbia Falls was largely spared.
A heavy rain Friday night melted the snow in Columbia Falls, but that rain was snow in the higher terrain.
The Flathead River Basin snowpack is off to a great start at 219% of average.
According to the National Weather Service, the last time it was this cold and snowy in November was 1986. Normal daytime highs this time of year are in the low 40s with nighttime lows in the mid-20s, the Weather Service said.