Kalispell sets daily record low

The polar blast that brought record snowfall to Montana over the weekend persisted Monday morning, with new record low temperatures set across the state.

Kalispell dipped to zero Monday morning, the coldest temperature ever recorded for Oct. 26, according to the National Weather Service in Missoula. The previous daily record was 10 degrees set in 2002. It also tied the fourth coldest temperature in October on record for Kalispell.

Missoula dipped to minus 5 on Monday morning, another daily record for the city that also set a daily record low on Sunday morning at minus 7.

Butte plummeted to minus 18 on Monday, setting a daily record for the Mining City, while Bozeman crashed down to minus 18 as well.

The coldest spot in the state was Potomac, about 25 miles east of Missoula, where the mercury fell to minus 29 on Sunday morning. That was the coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous U.S. this early in the year. The previous record was minus 20 at Babb on Oct. 24-25, 1919.

Potomac warmed up to a frosty minus 21 on Monday morning.

A slight warming trend remains on tap for Northwest Montana for the remainder of the week.

High temperatures in the Flathead Valley will climb into the upper 30s through the weekend, with lows in the 20s.

Light freezing rain or a wintery mix is possible Wednesday.

The weekend winter storm brought a good dose of snow to the higher terrain across Northwest Montana.

A weather station on Flattop Mountain in Glacier National Park showed about 2 feet of snow on Saturday.

About a foot of snow was reported at Noisy Basin in the Swan Range, while Stahl Peak in the northern Whitefish Range had about 18 inches of snow.