Cold snap closes 2010

After weathering an erratic winter storm on Wednesday that dumped lots of snow in some places but just traces in other spots, the Flathead Valley closed out the year with brutally cold weather.

Early on New Year’s Eve morning, it was minus 25 degrees in the Yaak, minus 24 in Polebridge and minus 11 at Glacier Park International Airport near Kalispell, according to the National Weather Service.

It wasn’t record-breaking cold, though.

Kalispell’s coldest last day of the year on record was 33 below on Dec. 31, 1978.

Flathead Valley residents are still talking about the sporadic nature of Wednesday’s storm, which dumped 35 inches of snow at Blacktail Mountain Ski Area near Lakeside in 24 hours.

Yet other places, such as Creston and Whitefish, saw little of the white stuff from that storm.

In Polson, a weather observer measured 13 inches of snow on Wednesday. A total of 23 inches of snow fell in 48 hours in Polson, from 4 p.m. Dec. 28 through 4 p.m. Dec. 30. Kalispell got about 7 inches from the storm, while Kila got 12 inches and Libby got 9 inches.

Snowfall was much heavier in the Missoula area, where trained spotters for the Weather Service reported 26 inches near Bonner and 10 inches in Missoula.

The year-end snowfall puts area ski resorts in good shape going into the new year.

Blacktail Mountain Ski Area reported a settled-base snow depth of 92 inches on Friday morning. Whitefish Mountain Resort on Big Mountain, which has gotten 17 inches of new snow in the last seven days, has a settled base at the summit of 70 inches. Snow depth in the Village area at Whitefish Mountain Resort is 44 inches.

The New Year’s Day forecast calls for patchy freezing fog this morning and then mostly sunny with a high near 12. The wind chill will make it feel about minus 1 degree, though.

In Polebridge, a high of 10 degrees is forecast for today, with a low of 13 below tonight.

A warming trend is expected early next week, the Weather Service said.