Wind gusts peak at 62 mph
<p>A downed tree lands on a power line on Montana 209 Monday after high winds blow through the area.</p>
Rain, snow, sleet — Flathead Valley weather had it all on Monday.
All those elements were pushed around by gusty winds as a strong cold front blew into Northwest Montana.
The high winds caused tree damage and downed power lines at locations across the Flathead Valley Monday afternoon.
There were about a dozen power outages scattered across Flathead Electric Cooperative’s service areas, according to spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom-Price.
At the peak of the outages in the early afternoon, about 3,000 co-op members were impacted, but that number was down to about 1,100 members by late afternoon, she said.
The Creston, Bigfork, Ferndale and Swan Valley areas were particularly impacted, along with some areas in Kalispell and around Kila and Marion.
Top wind gusts hit 62 mph at Creston at 1:15 p.m. and 57 mph at Sheepherder Hill in the West Valley area at 1:38 p.m.
Wind gusts peaked at 44 mph in Kila, 39 mph at Glacier Park International Airport and 45 mph near Libby.
Firefighters also were scrambling to respond to calls for trees across power lines and roads.
The weather front is expected to bring scattered rain and snow showers today with diminished winds, with the mercury expected to dip to 25 degrees tonight. The weather should warm up for the remainder of the week.