Local traffic allowed along U.S. 2 to Essex

3 p.m. update

Traffic along the U.S. 2 corridor at the southern boundary of Glacier National Park won’t resume until late Tuesday morning at the earliest, a Department of Transportation official said Monday afternoon.

The department closed the mountain highway between West Glacier and East Glacier early Monday morning after a massive winter storm push deep snow drifts over the road.

Kalispell’s division maintenance chief Justun Juelfs said limited local traffic is being allowed to travel along a portion of U.S. 2 east of West Glacier. He said he expects local traffic to be allowed as far as Essex by late afternoon.

“We do have rotary blowers on both ends, working from both sides and trying to get two-way traffic again,” Juelfs said. But he added, “We’re averaging about a mile an hour.”

About 16 to 18 miles remain, and Juelfs expects the road crews will have to use the industrial snowblowers on the entire stretch of highway between Essex and Marias Pass.

BNSF Railway plans to perform avalanche-mitigation work to clear snow from above the rail line that runs parallel to the highway, he added. Using propane charges detonated from a helicopter above the snowpack, he said the rail company is planning to begin work at 9 a.m. Tuesday and wrap up by 11 a.m.

“There will be no MDT staff within that segment just in case any of those avalanches actually make it to the highway,” he said, noting that 11 a.m. would be the earliest normal traffic could resume through the area.

“That’s assuming the avalanche-mitigation work doesn’t send a large amount of snow down on the road, because that cleanup effort would take a lot longer,” Juelfs added.

The National Weather Service reported that Essex received three feet of snow over the weekend, with even higher snow totals east of the Continental Divide.

“There’s no doubt about it, this is a significant event,” Juelfs said. “When you get that amount of snow over the course of four days, it’s bound to bottle things up.”

This story will continue to be updated throughout the day as more information becomes available.

1:30 p.m. update:

Amtrak’s Empire Builder and other rail service along the BNSF rail line south of Glacier National Park is on hold for at least 48 hours after a weekend snow storm shut down rail and highway traffic through the mountain corridor.

In an emailed statement, BNSF spokesman Ross Lane said the company does not have an estimate on when it will resume operations.

“Due to recent avalanche activity, continued snowfall and challenging weather conditions, BNSF has temporarily suspended train operations between Shelby and Whitefish,” Lane stated. “BNSF crews were prepared for and are actively working to mitigate avalanche debris and blowing snow that has reached the rail grade.”

Lane said the rail closure went into place early Sunday evening. At least one avalanche had reached the tracks, he added in a follow-up email.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the closure could affect passengers on the Empire Builder route, which stretches from Chicago to Seattle and Portland, for “a few days,” but also said there was no estimate on when the corridor would be reopened.

“We’re returning a trip to Whitefish this afternoon that was originating in Seattle and Portland, via Spokane, on Saturday,” Magliari said, adding the approximately 90 passengers on the train made it as far as Essex before they were forced to turn back.

He also said a west-bound train from Chicago had headed back to Shelby after traveling as far as Browning.

Early Monday morning, the Montana Department of Transportation closed U.S. 2 between West Glacier and East Glacier after snowdrifts covered the road in several places.

Kalispell division maintenance chief Justun Juelfs said earlier that crews hoped to clear snow and restore travel through the corridor by Monday afternoon, but the east-west highway remained closed as of 1:30 p.m.

11 a.m. update:

The Montana Department of Transportation has downgraded “severe driving conditions” warnings for several stretches of state and U.S. highways in Northwest Montana, but U.S. 2 between West Glacier and East Glacier remains closed due to snowdrifts.

Snowy and icy conditions remain on nearly all highways in the area and department officials have asked that residents throughout the region avoid unnecessary travel following a massive winter storm.

Variable snowfall was reported throughout Northwest Montana over the weekend. According to the National Weather Service, the Glacier Park International Airport weather station recorded just 1.5 inches of snow Sunday night into Monday morning, capping off a weekend total of 17.5 inches.

Residents in Bigfork, Columbia Falls and Whitefish reported significantly higher snowfall during the tail end of the storm, and a trained weather spotter in Olney reported a weekend total of 31 inches, with 16 inches falling during the past 24 hours.

Missoula-based Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Kitsmiller noted that strong winds overnight had caused significant drifting and complicated accurate tallies of snowfall during the storm. He said Libby residents had reported between 20 and 30 inches since Friday, with upwards of 30 inches dumping in the Yaak area.

Avalanche forecasters with BNSF Railway issued a “Level 4” avalanche warning for Marias Pass Monday morning, meaning snow slides are “very likely” in the area. The Flathead Avalanche Center also recommended against backcountry recreation throughout the region’s high-elevation areas, with an “extreme” avalanche danger above 6,000 feet.

8:30 a.m. update:

Blizzard-like conditions and snowdrifts have forced Montana Department of Transportation officials to close U.S. 2 from West Glacier to East Glacier. It will likely remain closed until this afternoon at the earliest.

The department’s Kalispell maintenance division chief, Justun Juelfs, said this morning that snowdrifts have completely covered the mountain corridor in several places.

He said a break in the weather around 10 a.m. could allow crews to mobilize equipment to begin clearing the snowdrifts, but the department’s work is dependent on the rapidly changing weather conditions in the area. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for the area until 11 a.m., with

“That will take quite a bit of time, so I’m hoping by sometime this afternoon we should start to get the drifts cut back,” Juelfs said. “The other issue for that corridor is, we do have avalanche concerns due to the snow conditions, so we’ll have to keep that in mind as well.”

He said BNSF avalanche forecasters have reported snow slides in several areas above the railroad tracks through the corridor, which parallel U.S. 2.

“We haven’t experienced any avalanches on Highway 2, but one leads to the other, so we have some concerns for portions of that corridor.”

The Flathead Avalanche Center on Monday issued a warning that noted “extreme” avalanche danger above 6,000 feet, meaning human-triggered and natural avalanches throughout the mountains in and around Glacier National Park are certain.

Below 6,000 feet, avalanche danger is rated “high,” and the center recommends against entering backcountry areas prone to avalanches until the warning is lifted.

Elsewhere in the region, the department has issued a “severe driving” warning for U.S. 2 from West Glacier to the junction with Montana 40, west of Columbia Falls, along with Montana 206 from Woody’s gas station north to Columbia Falls. The designation is the last step before closing the road, and officials are urging motorists to avoid these areas except for emergency travel.

Juelfs said the Columbia Falls-area warnings were issued due to a lack of visibility and ice on the roads after temperatures climbed well above freezing Sunday afternoon.

“Yesterday, that turned the roads wet in a lot of areas, but then we had a pretty significant cool-off and that put a lens of ice over the road and that was covered with blowing and drifting snow,” he said. “We anticipate lifting it if and when the blowing and drifting calms down.”

The Weather Service’s blizzard warning also applies to Columbia Falls and the eastern portion of the Flathead Valley.

West of Kalispell, the transportation department has also issued a severe-driving designation from Happy’s Inn to Macgregor Lake Resort due to ice on the road.

Ultimately, Juelfs said this is a day for residents to avoid driving, if possible.

“We have several areas of severe driving conditions, as well as a road closure, so if there isn’t an absolute need to travel, I would suggest that people stay home and give our guys an opportunity to get out there, push things back and improve driving conditions,” he said.