Storm hammers Montana

A winter snow storm blanketed Montana on Friday, bringing blizzard warnings, bitter wind-chill temperatures and heavy snow that led to cancelled classes and postponed basketball games.

Locally, Columbia Falls schools closed as the storm moved in. The Northwestern A Divisional basketball tournament postponed all games planned Friday in Kalispell. The games will be played today with final tournament play on Sunday.

Games involving nearly all Class AA basketball teams in the state were postponed from Friday and Saturday to Monday and Tuesday.

The only exception: Friday’s Kalispell crosstown games between Flathead and Glacier, which went on as scheduled.

Glacier National Park closed its administrative offices on Friday.

Other events also fell victim to the weather: the Flathead Combined Training Association Horse Show at Majestic Valley Arena planned today was canceled.

Steady winds of 24 to 25 mph and gusts up to 37 mph in the Flathead Valley combined with snowfall throughout the day.

Elsewhere, the University of Montana, all Missoula County public schools and many other Western Montana campuses were closed after a blizzard warning was issued for an area stretching from Glacier National Park to south of Hamilton.

Schools also closed in Superior, Bonner, Clinton, Darby, Lolo and Stevensville.

The arctic front from Canada also is sending Western Montana into another deep freeze.

In the Flathead Valley, the mercury is expected to dip to minus 11 tonight, with wind-chill values as low as minus 33, according to the National Weather Service. Today’s high is expected to reach 4 degrees.

Sunday should have a high of 9 and a low of minus 9, with Monday’s high and low temperatures 18 and 9, respectively.

A new round of snow is forecast for the Flathead Sunday and Monday.

Residents of north-central Montana were warned that wind-chill temperatures could dip as low as 60 below at times.

The Department of Transportation closed U.S. 191 in Central Montana between Harlowton and Eddies Corner just after midnight Thursday due to heavy snow and poor visibility, while a section of U.S. 89 from the Kiowa Junction west of Browning to St. Mary was closed due to  weather.

In Eastern Montana, traffic was re-routed around a section of Interstate 90 near Columbus Friday morning after several semis stopped and blocked the lanes because of heavy snow and poor visibility. The westbound lanes of Interstate 90 from Reedpoint to Park City also closed for a time Friday morning because semis were stuck on the hill, the Department of Transportation said.