Nasty weather again reared its ugly head in Northwest Montana on Tuesday, knocking out power for roughly 6,000 electricity customers.

Amid a flood warning for the Flathead River, a flash flood warning for Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park and a lake wind advisory for Flathead Lake, the storm brought down trees and power lines from Somers to Swan Lake.

Fallen trees caused significant problems on Montana 35, knocking out power to traffic signals at the highway’s intersections with Grand Drive and Holt Drive. Law enforcement initially provided traffic control at the intersections until portable stop signs were brought in.

Montana 83 between Swan Lake and the Missoula County line at one point was completely blocked by downed trees. Law enforcement reported more than 100 trees down north of Seeley Lake.

Downed power lines also posed problems on East Fourth Street, Edgewood Drive and Parkway Drive in Whitefish as well as Mud Lake Road in Bigfork.

Farther south, a tree caught fire after falling on a power line on South Ferndale Drive in northern Lake County.

In addition to the general damage and power outages, Tuesday’s tempests dropped .46 inches of rain on the Flathead Valley as measured at Glacier Park International Airport.

That brings the total June rainfall in Flathead County to 6.19 inches, breaking the record for most rain in any month of the year. The prior record was 6.02 inches in July 1993.

Other locations had heavier rain on Tuesday: 1.66 inches at Hungry Horse, 1.50 inches at Many Glacier, .92 inches at West Glacier and .69 inches at Polebridge.

Flooding did not materialize in Glacier Park, although plenty of rain drenched the park.

Some areas in the Flathead Valley, particularly Lakeside, Creston and Marion, received 1-inch hail from Tuesday morning’s storms.

In Creston, the hail piled up 2 inches on the ground. Smaller hail peppered areas from Kalispell to Columbia Falls.

Winds may have created the biggest difficulties when they brought down trees. In Swan Lake, for example, a wind gust of 58 mph was reported.

Wendy Ostrom-Price, public relations officer for Flathead Electric Cooperative, said the bulk of the power outages were caused when a clump of trees fell, crashing through a fence and into the Bigfork substation.

“We have five crews down there and they will slowly but surely restore power to members down the line,” Ostrom-Price said. “The Swan Lake folks will likely be the last because they are on the end of the line.”

As of 5 p.m., power had been restored to roughly one quarter of those affected. She was unable to estimate when power would be restored in Swan Lake because it was not known what kinds of problems the crews would run into and have to fix.

Ostrom-Price said storm damage was just as bad farther south.

“I was talking to a gal driving to Helena, and she said she counted hundreds of downed trees,” she said.

The rain sent two local rivers — the Flathead River and Whitefish River — to flood stage.

The Whitefish River was expected to run slightly above flood stage until Thursday.

The main Flathead River was forecast to rise to almost a foot above flood stage today.

However, A Flathead County Office of Emergency Services manager isn’t too worried about flood problems.

Lincoln Chute said even the Flathead River passes its flood stage of 14 feet, “we will have very few problems. It has to get to 17 to 20 feet before we have real problems.”

And, Chute said, the river level would have to stay above 17 feet for several days before much damage would occur. That’s not supposed to occur this week.

“If it drops as fast as it’s expected to, we’ll be OK,” he said.

The Stillwater and Whitefish rivers are supposed to drop in the next few days, alleviating flood concerns there, he said.

If water begins to seep from local rivers in the next few days, it’s a good thing, he said, because it essentially irrigates fields next to rivers.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour contributed to this story.