Power returned to about half of the homes that went dark in Wednesday's windstorm after Flathead Electric Cooperative crews worked through the night.

About 14,000 customers were still without power Thursday at 6:30 a.m. At its peak, roughly 30,000 homes were affected by outages.

The largest outages remained in Libby, on U.S. 2 west of Kalispell, the Farm to Market area, Coram, Swan Lake and along the west shore of Flathead Lake, with many other smaller outages across the Flathead Valley.

A temporary emergency shelter was set up Wednesday night at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Expo Building for residents who need access to heat and power.

The co-op deployed its entire crew Wednesday, and restoration efforts continued through the night.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office urged drivers to use caution and noted that some roads remained closed or reduced to one lane due to downed trees.

A sharp cold front delivered the damaging winds beginning early Wednesday. A gust of 67 mph was reported in Kalispell, while Mount Aeneas in the Swan Range clocked a gust at 96 mph.

Thursday brings a transition to winter weather with snow likely in the Flathead Valley in the afternoon.

A winter weather advisory was issued for the West Glacier region where up to 12 inches of snow could accumulate from Essex to Marias Pass on U.S. 2. 

Winds could gust as high as 45 mph.