'Crippling' winter storm forecast to ramp up Friday
Matt Baldwin Daily Inter Lake | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years AGO
A resident shovels snow in Whitefish in this file photo. (Matt Baldwin/Whitefish Pilot)
2017 is set to go out with a blast. A major winter storm on track to hit Northwest Montana today through Saturday could dump up to 20 inches of snow in valley locations and nearly 4 feet in the mountains.
The National Weather Service in Missoula on Wednesday warned that a surge of moderate snow will begin to move into the area Thursday morning. Up to 8 inches of snow is possible in Kalispell by Thursday night. Mountain passes, including Lookout, Lolo, Lost Trail and Marias passes, could see 18 inches of snow.
The storm will peak in intensity Friday night into Saturday.
“What happens late Friday afternoon into Saturday has potential to be one of the more impressive snow events in recent memory,” the Weather Service stated in Wednesday’s forecast discussion.
Models show a “robust plume” of Pacific moisture moving across the area while an extremely cold arctic air mass begins to cross the Continental Divide.
“What occurs next will be both meteorologically beautiful, but also likely quite crippling,” the Weather Service warned.
Friday night into Saturday, additional snow amounts of 8 to 14 inches are possible for valleys across western Montana with another 2 feet possible in the mountains.
Low temperatures Friday and Saturday night will be in the single digits in Kalispell.
Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the Weather Service, said whiteout conditions are likely for the Flathead Friday night due to blowing and drifting snow.
“Come Friday afternoon, the winds area really going to start increasing,” Kino said.
Places like Badrock Canyon will see the worst of the wind, the Weather Service warned. Travel heading into the holiday weekend will be extremely challenging along and north of Interstate 90.
“With all the new snow .. the plows will be working hard,” Kino said.
The snow is expected to taper off Saturday afternoon for Northwest Montana and late Saturday night for West-Central Montana.
ARTICLES BY MATT BALDWIN DAILY INTER LAKE
3 decades of surfing Big Mountain
Stumptown Snowboards owner Joe Tabor proudly displays his first snowboard on the back wall of the store in downtown Whitefish. He handcrafted the solid-wood, arrowhead-shaped behemoth as a young boy in a school shop class in 1982. Stickers are plastered on the nose of the board where a rope is attached for steering — no bindings or boots required.
Ski program introduces kids to the slopes
The 3 degree temperature matched the age of the eager skiers who gathered at Whitefish Mountain Resort on Wednesday morning for their weekly lesson with the Ski and Ride School’s Buckaroos program. The frigid weather wasn’t of much concern for the little ones. Plenty of hot laps and high fives — and maybe even a hot cocoa — were on tap for the day to keep them warm.
Another arctic punch on the way
As the saying goes, March will roar in like a lion as another arctic front bears down on the region, this time bringing the coldest temperatures of the season.