After another record cold night, upwards of a foot more snow on the way
Traffic at Highway 2 and Nucleus Avenue during last week's snowstorm. More snow is on the way late Tuesday into Thursday. (Avery Howe photo)
The bitter cold has been keeping the Columbia Falls Fire Department busy, chief Karl Weeks said Monday.
In the past four days firefighters have responded to 19 calls, including three where sprinkler systems froze, sending water into buildings.
In addition, firefighters responded to a fire at the Weyerhaeuser MDF plant Saturday night. Firefighters were on scene at 10:40 p.m. and off by 12:05 p.m.
Weeks said it was a minor fire that started in the bagging area. The cause was undetermined.
The bigger problem has been the freezing sprinkler systems. The worst case was a Meadow Lake condominium that flooded the upper and lower floors and the garage.
Timber Creek Village Assisted Living Center also had a sprinkler freeze and the service building at the Montana Veterans Home also had one freeze.When they freeze and burst, it automatically trips the fire alarm, Weeks noted as the systems are designed to monitor water flow.
Temperature readings across the region crashed to record lows as an impressive arctic air mass settled deep into the Northern Rockies early Thursday.
The storm brought high winds and blizzard conditions as the arctic air spilled over the Continental Divide into the Flathead.
According to National Weather Service data, Kalispell residents awoke Saturday to a bone-chilling temperature of minus 35, smashing the previous record low for Jan. 13 of minus 24 set in 1972. En route to Saturday’s low, Kalispell also set a daily record low Friday night at minus 29.
The official weather station at Glacier Park International Airport bottomed out at minus 33 on Saturday at 7:55 a.m.
The temperature reading for Whitefish on Saturday registered at minus 36 at 7:45 a.m., while the Creston area plummeted to minus 39 at 8:15 a.m.
Polebridge took top honors as the cold spot for all of Western Montana. The outpost on the northwest border of Glacier National Park dipped to minus 49 on Saturday at 2:15 a.m. In Lincoln County, Libby registered minus 38 at 7:15 a.m.
On Monday morning the region broke another record, dipping down to minus 28 at the airport, which broke the old record of 25 below set in 2005.
While certainly brisk, this week’s arctic outbreak failed to meet all-time historic lows for Montana.
Kalispell’s all-time low is minus 38. The lowest all-time temperature for Western Montana is minus 53 set at Seeley Lake on Jan. 7, 1937. The all-time low for the state is minus 70 at Rogers Pass set on Jan. 20, 1954.
We’ll see another shot of snow Tuesday after midnight through Wednesday and into Thursday the National Weather Service is saying, with another 12 inches of snow possible, with highs in the teens.
By the weekend, however, temperatures will rise back into the mid-30s with a chance of rain and snow both Saturday and Sunday.