Wind, heavy snow cause outages, road closures

Strong winds and heavy snow caused power outages and temporary road closures in northwestern Montana as a wintry storm threatened to drop several feet of snow in some areas of the northern Rocky Mountains.

The National Weather Service in Great Falls reports 16 inches of snow had fallen near Marias Pass along U.S. 2 just south of Glacier National Park by early Saturday afternoon. Reports from East Glacier Park indicated 21 inches had accumulated.

The area is forecast to see a total of up to 4 feet by the time the storm winds down Sunday night, said meteorologist Megan Syner.

Gusty winds on Saturday knocked down trees and damaged power lines, causing scattered outages in northwestern Montana and along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The strongest winds were focused along the east side of Flathead Lake, where numerous large trees came down along Montana 35, according to the National Weather Service in Missoula. The stretch of highway between Woods Bay and Yellow Bay was temporarily shut down Saturday morning after a tree fell on a power line. About 900 Flathead Electric Co-op members in the area had power knocked out Saturday.

Travelers were urged to take alternate routes around Flathead Lake due to high winds gusting up to 60 mph. Wave heights on Flathead Lake were predicted to be 3-6 feet, with locally higher waves.

Emergency travel only was recommended in some areas along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain Front and treacherous travel was reported around the region, including over Rogers Pass on Montana 200 northwest of Helena, Syner said.

Northwest Montana valleys were not expected to see as much snowfall as previously anticipated due to the continued gusty northeast winds, the National Weather Service noted.

“The better chance for snowfall in these areas comes Sunday afternoon and evening, however accumulations for the most part look pretty limited,” the Weather Service stated Saturday afternoon.

Following the storm, temperatures are expected to drop into the teens and 20s across much of western and central Montana overnight Monday.

The weekend storm system was also bringing strong winds and snow to the mountains of northern Washington and northern Idaho.

Homeless shelters in Spokane, Washington, were relaxing their entrance policies and the city was preparing a backup shelter, if needed.

Dave Wall, a Union Gospel Mission spokesman, said the shelter’s director and Spokane’s mayor agreed the mission would not enforce its drug and alcohol policies while temperatures were below freezing, as long as patrons weren’t acting unsafe, The Spokesman Review reported.