Early winter storm sweeps through area, clobbers Rocky Mountain Front

Havre Daily News staff

The brunt of a severe early snowstorm missed Havre this year, but led to the governor declaring a winter storm emergency in Montana.

"With an unprecedented winter storm throwing our state a surprise in September, state and local governments are working closely together to protect the health and safety of Montanans, and our top priority is making sure that happens," Gov. Bullock said Sunday in a release announcing the declaration. "Montanans should heed all warnings from state and local officials, travel safely and be cautious during this time."

The storm in the Havre area started as rain late Friday night or early Saturday morning, turning to wet, heavy snow that fell through late Sunday afternoon.

In the midst of the heavy, wet snow in afternoon and with the forecast predicting the snow to continue through Monday, the Havre Daily News decided not to put its carriers at risk with the weather and canceled Monday's paper. Not long after that announcement was published online and carriers notified, the snow started to taper off.

National Weather Service reported no precipitation recorded at its Havre station at the City-County Airport Monday.

The storm did cause damage, with officials responding to calls in Havre about downed tree branches and branches on power lines.

Weather Service meteorologist Paul Nutter said Monday that Weather Service did not yet have a confirmed amount of snowfall in Havre - its website still did not show a snow total this morning - but had received reports of from eight to 12 inches of accumulation in Havre.

He said the Weather Service reporting station showed a five-inch snow depth at the Havre City-County Airport Monday, but much of the snow compacted and melted as it fell.

He said Great Falls received 19.3 inches of snow, but neither city received snow like the region farther west.

Browning received 48 inches of snowfall and a location west of Choteau received 46 inches, Nutter said.

Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Glacier and Pondera counties declared civil emergencies and asked that no one but emergency vehicles use the roads.

Nutter said Weather Service took note of the widespread damage from an early storm in the Havre area two years ago and made sure areas were notified the storm was coming.

Oct. 2-3, 2017, a record-setting storm dropped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow in Havre and much of the surrounding area, sticking to leafy trees and power lines with the ice lodging doing significant damage and causing power outages from Chester to Malta. More than 9,500 connections without power from that storm and it took more than a week to restore power to some connections.

Weather Service made sure advance notice was out for this year's storm and some areas had crews ready to restore power quickly, he said.

The press release from the governors office said state agencies were able to pre-position equipment and prioritize road clearing in cooperation with local jurisdictions. Given the proximity to Glacier National Park, the Blackfeet Nation had a shelter on standby for stranded motorists. 

The Montana State Emergency Coordination Center was working with all counties in the storm path to identify needs to critical lifeline services such as energy, communications, transportation, and emergency food, water and shelter services.

Bullock, who is terming out as governor and is campaigning for U.S. president, said in Sunday's release that the state was fortunate to have known ahead of time of this year's storm.

"We were fortunate to receive several days of notice from the National Weather Service - which did a good job predicting the size and magnitude of this storm," Bullock said.