Gandolf blankets region in snow, cold temperatures

Havre Daily News/Lindsay Brown

Mule deer keep watch in the snow across from the Montana State University-Northern campus Friday morning.

Winter storm Gandolf blew a blast of cold, snowy winter magic through the region, dropping more than a foot of snow in Blaine, northern Chouteau and Hill counties and taking temperatures near minus-10 to minus-20 in the region.

Other parts of the state saw far less snow, though most of the state saw temperatures near or below zero over the weekend.

While snow is predicted to fall again today and off and on through the week, no levels close to the amounts last week are expected.

But winter storm Gandolf — named by The Weather Channel which has begun assigning unofficial names for severe winter storms, and named after a character in the 1896 fantasy novel "The Well at World's End" — dropped even more snow in some areas than in north-central Montana.

The Weather Channel reports the storm dropped almost 47 inches of snow near Burley, Idaho, 45 inches in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah and 1 to 2 feet of snow in the Salt Lake City area.

It moved across into Minnesota — creating reports of blizzard conditions in Montana, Colorado and North and South Dakota — before drifting north into Canada.

In Montana, the storm dropped 7 inches on Havre through midnight Thursday, a new record, and another 6 inches Friday, National Weather Service reports. AccuWeather.com reports a swath from Rudyard to Harlem and south to Big Sandy with 13 inches of snow over the weekend.

The storm kept state, county and city employees busy, dealing with snow on streets and roads and other problems such as water main breaks.

Most other parts of the state saw 6 to 8 inches, AccuWeather reports, with Helena receiving more than 10 inches in the period.

Weather Service reports Havre receiving 15 inches of snow so far this month, more than four times the normal 3.6 inch average for this time of the month.

It also puts the total water equivalent received — 0.86 inches for the month and 3.36 inches for the water year that starts Oct. 1, far above the norm.

For this time of month, the precipitation is half-an-inch above the norm of 0.17 inches. It is more than double the norm for the water year, with the average for this time of month 1.58 inches.

This water year also has created above-normal, so far, levels of snowpack. Most of Montana, aside from the Yellowstone River Basin, has received above-normal levels of snowpack, including the Marias River basin and the headwaters and mainstem of the Missouri River.

The Natural Resource Conservation Service reports the St. Mary-Milk River Basin at 145 percent of average snowpack at this time.

Snow today and Tuesday is expected to drop another 1 inches to 3 inches in the Havre area, with temperatures rising into the 20s, 30s or even 40s this week before dropping off again next weekend.