Storm keeps Highway Patrol busy over holiday weekend
Kathleen Woodford Mineral Independent | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 11 months AGO
Pam Ramsey Reed posted this photo on the National Weather Bureau’s Facebook Page showing the snowfall in Alberton after Friday evening’s storm, where up to a foot of snow fell in some areas. (Photo courtesy of Pam Ramsey Reed)
A semi-truck and trailer from British Columbia crashed near mile marker 12 in the eastbound lane of Interstate 90 on Sunday, Nov. 25 around 1 p.m. No other vehicles were involved, and the driver was taken to the hospital with some injuries. (Photo by Chris Kelly)
Montana Highway Patrol had a busy Thanksgiving holiday week with approximately 460 incident reports throughout the state from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23, and with about 20 of those incidents occurring in Mineral County.
As a winter storm blew through the state on Friday evening, red flag warnings were posted from 6 p.m. to noon on Saturday where 26 more accidents occurred throughout the state.
Problem areas spanned from Lookout Pass throughout the area to MacDonald Pass. Warnings were posted for Evaro Hill, Highway 93 from Lolo to Arlee, the Missoula Valley, Interstate 90 from Lookout out to Deer Lodge, Highway 12 Garrison Junction to MacDonald Pass. All warning were for low visibility, quickly changing conditions, and icy, snowy slick roads.
On Saturday, there were reports of 5.2 inches of snow in Missoula with snowflakes “as big as silver dollars” on the National Weather Bureau’s Facebook page. As of 5 a.m. there was four inches of snow on the ground. Near Haugan, three inches were reported during that time period, and four inches south of Darby.
Roughly three inches fell in Frenchtown and around 12 inches in Gold Creek. However, Plains reported “just a dusting of snow” while Alberton received about two inches in town. The remainder of the weekend remained dry with zero precipitation.