LAKE COUNTY — The record-breaking bitter cold that settled into the valley this past week started with a winter storm last weekend that closed roads, downed trees and power lines, and resulted in the death of a 24-year-old man from Ronan.

Jerome Scott Dubiel was killed near mile marker 17 on U.S. Highway 35 while traveling north in a 1995 Honda Accord when a tree fell on his car. Dubiel was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital in Polson, the Daily Interlake reported.

Another arctic front is forecasted to move in on Friday, bringing an overnight low of minus 14. The entire area is under a winter storm warning through today, National Weather Service representative Peter Felsch. said.

There was an 80 percent chance of snow on Wednesday and seventy percent chance today, Flesch said.

Last weekend, gusting winds out of the north were knocking trees down, further complicating the icy road conditions left by Friday night’s storm. Finley Point volunteer fire station hief Chris Ricciardi’s team manned a road block, but Hwy 35 was reopened after being closed since early morning around 3:30 p.m., he said.

“Conditions were extreme. We had trees falling down all around us,” Ricciardi said. “The trees were falling and knocking down power lines faster than Mission Valley (Power) could put them up.”

The downed trees knocked out power lines and made portions of the highway impassable from south of Woods Bay to Polson.

Bill Walsh, with the Montana Department of Transportation’s Kalispell office, said crews were working throughout the day on Saturday to clear the road, but the wind was making it difficult.

“They’re trying to get it open, but every time they turn around another tree is down,” he said on Saturday afternoon. “They’re doing the best they can.”

A southerly section of the highway was closed until early Sunday morning, with homeowners in the area unable to get back to their houses because of the many trees blocking the road.

Crews from Flathead Electric and Mission Valley Power were also moving up and down the highway working on downed lines to restore power to residents along the lower stretches of the highway.

The University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station got hammered in the high winds, losing some 30 old-growth trees around the 80 acre station.

“We lost 30 or more of our biggest p-pines, and about a third of the larger grand and Douglas firs on the entire grounds went down,” station director Jack Stanford said in a press release from UM. “We have thousands of board feet of solid old timber on the ground. It is very sad.”

Stanford said most of the trees were uprooted rather than snapped off — perhaps because the ground was very dry and not frozen.

“We have seen wind like this many times in the past without trees coming down,” he said.

The station was without power for 19 hours, but only suffered minor damage to a few buildings.

The National Weather Service station out of Missoula reported a record-low of

Area forecast for today calls for a high of 9 and a low of minus 5. On Friday it is predicted to get frigid again, with an overnight low of minue 14, and a 20 percent chance of snow, Felsch said.

Arlee’s first annual Parade of Lights was postponed because of the conditions. The event, scheduled for last Saturday, will now be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20.