Strong wind knocks out power in Flathead County; more damaging wind Tuesday night

High winds Monday night knocked out power to thousands of homes across parts of Flathead County.

Flathead Electric Cooperative reported as many as 6,000 customers were without electricity Monday at 10:30 p.m., with most of the outages from Columbia Falls to West Glacier and Essex.

As of Tuesday morning, the outage continued to affect roughly 900 customers in the Columbia Falls area and 330 in the canyon area.

Roughly 540 customers were without power on U.S. 2 west of Kalispell. Smaller outages affected U.S. 2 in Evergreen and the Ashley Lake area.

A wind advisory was issued Monday night for the Flathead and Mission valleys. Steady winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts of 50 mph were expected through Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service warned.

Another round of wind is expected Tuesday night as an intense cold front sweeps into the region.

Expect a rapid transition from rain to snow, and damaging winds with gusts of 50-70 mph in the valleys and higher in the mountains.

A high wind watch was issued for Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon. Winds could blow down trees and power lines, and widespread power outages are possible, the Weather Service warned.

The transition from rain to snow will be abrupt, the Weather Service advised. A winter storm warning is planned for the Glacier National Park region Tuesday night to Wednesday night.

"Bursts of heavy snow or snow squalls could lead to near-zero visibility and difficult travel conditions immediately following the frontal passage in the morning," the Weather Service's forecast stated. "Higher valleys, mountain passes and locations along the Continental Divide have the highest risk for these heavy bursts of snow and snow squalls."