Wintry blast expected later this week

Winter will finally arrive later this week with a cold  blast and about 6 inches of fresh snow coupled with blustery winds and low temperatures that could flirt with 30 below in some places of Northwest Montana.

National Weather Service meteorologist Luke Robinson said arctic air should start to cross the Continental Divide Wednesday into Thursday. Temperatures will plummet and winds will gust up to 40 mph.

There’s a 70% probability of 6 inches of snow or more, he said.

The wind will also blow around snow that fell earlier in the week.

The cold is a stark contrast to December, which was relatively mild and one of the driest on record.

The year 2023 ended in a meteorological whimper, with barely any snow on the ground and mild temperatures.

According to the National Weather Service, Kalispell ended the year with 13.13 inches of total precipitation, which is just .05 inch below normal; however, West Glacier was well below normal, at 21.76 inches for the year, which is 9.11 inches below normal.

The average temperature in Kalispell was 44.7 degrees, which is 1.5 degrees above normal, while West Glacier was actually warmer than that, at 45.4 degrees — 2.2 degrees on average above normal.

Worldwide, 2023 temperatures were at or above 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — making it the warmest ever, according to a story in the Washington Post.

The warmest day of the year in Kalispell was 100 on Aug. 17. The coldest was 14 below on Jan. 29.

It was definitely an up and down year, with a warm and dry late spring and summer that ended at the end of August. The Hungry Horse Dam saw 4.68 inches of rain in August, part of which fell after the remnants of Hurricane Hillary swept up into Montana from California.

The wettest day of the year was Nov. 2, when 1.41 inches of rain fell in Kalispell.

The snowpack is dismal — the Flathead River Basin is just 56% of average. On the east side of Glacier National Park, the Many Glacier SNOTEL site shows a snow water equivalent of just .2 of an inch, which is just 4% of average.

Higher elevations, like Flattop Mountain in Glacier, are at 63% of average. Blacktail Mountain is just 1.4 inches on SWE, or 27% of average.

The drought is statewide, with all river basins showing SWEs well below average. Most are in the 50 to 60% range, though the Sun, Teton and Marias Rive Basins are particularly dry at just 25% of average.

Storms this week should help, Robinson said, but won’t make up the deficit.