Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Heavy snow and record-setting cold claimed the state over the weekend, with Havre recording a low of 33 below zero last night the low in the state and a record for Havre with a high of 13 below predicted for Havre today. The previous record low for Havre on Dec. 14 was 24 below zero, set in 1975. Conditions created havoc with winter travel over the weekend and at least one death was reported, that of an elderly man in Great Falls. The Havre Police reported that aside from a couple of accidents and a report of a water pipe breaking at an unoccupied trailer house, it was a relatively quiet weekend with few reports of problems due to the storm. Dave Peterson, Havre director of Public Works, said the storm made some extra work for his department but was fairly uneventful. “For the most part they were just doing some normal sanding. Some areas they were clearing ,” he said. “They got the hospital road opened again Saturday afternoon.” The winter weather hit the entire state, with the high temperature recorded Sunday at Thompson Falls, the National Weather Service reports a blistering 7 degrees above zero. The Associated Press reports that Billings also set a record Sunday, with the coldest high temperature on record for the date minus eight degrees, breaking a previous record of 4 degrees set in 1948. The snow hit Friday night, Dec. 12, dropping some 6 inches at the National Weather Service recording station at the Havre airport. Friday night and Saturday winds caused drifting in the north-central Montana region and throughout the state, leading to the closure of some highways. Most highways were reopened by Sunday, with the Montana Department of Transportation reporting this morning that many highways in the state have intermittent patches Of snow and ice or scattered snow and ice. The cold weather continues to dominates the state today, with the Weather Service reporting this morning that most of Montana was seeing temperatures well below zero, with the lows at 4 a.m. 30 below zero at Glasgow and 28 below zero at Jordan. The warm spots in the state at that time were west of the divide, with Kalispell reporting 1 above zero. Light snow was reported at a number of stations around Montana, but no significant amount of moisture was recorded, the Weather Service reported. While heavy snow is not predicted, the cold weather is expected to continue through the weekend. The high forecast for Havre today was 13 below zero, with wind chill values as low as 47 below. The low tonight is predicted to be 26 below, with the high point of the week the only high forecast through Sunday above zero 7 degrees on Wednesday. A 30-percent chance of snow is forecast for Wednesday night and Thursday, with a slight chance of snow Thursday night through Friday night.
