Snow was cold welcome to winter driving
Drivers encountered snow, freezing rain and rain for the first time this season, causing traffic accidents across the valley.
Drivers encountered snow, freezing rain and rain for the first time this season, causing traffic accidents across the valley.
There was "a mix of everything," said Trent Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula.
He described a "warm push" that heralded the arrival of a cold front Sunday night. The temperatures didn't mix at first, making pockets of freezing rain that turned to snow and rain in some areas and left others dry.
At about 2:30 a.m., the county Road Department reported to the Sheriff's Office that roads and bridges were getting slick.
Shortly afterward, a vehicle drove off East Edgewood Drive and clipped a tree. Probably no one was there to hear whether a fir tree made a sound when it fell on Fern Lane near Ferndale; wind gusts reached 28 mph in the Woods Bay area overnight, Smith said.
The strange weather system was recorded at Glacier Park International Airport, where it was 34 degrees at 8 p.m. Sunday. It dropped to 30 degrees by 1 a.m., but then warmed during the next two nighttime hours to 34 degrees. It wasn't until 8 or 8:30 that snow fell at the airport.
Snow was whipped by wind and accumulated in Bigfork before midnight.
Two accidents were reported on Montana 83, but no one was hurt.
At about 6 a.m., Kalispell and Somers fire departments, Highway Patrol, and Lakeside Quick Response Unit were notified that a vehicle had flipped onto its top on U.S. 93 by the fish hatchery. Four people involved said they didn't want medical attention. Another accident was reported in the same area less than an hour later and another one further south on U.S. 93 later in the morning.
On Whitefish Stage Road, Highway Patrol and Whitefish ambulance were notified of two crashes; one was a rollover and the other was vehicle nearby in a ditch. That set the scene for a dump truck with a loader to spin out on a hill and slide into a ditch. The accidents resulted in some injuries and a call for sand on the road.
On U.S. 93 and Grandview Drive, a vehicle slid off an embankment.
The National Weather Service predicts a slight chance of snow today and tonight.