More snow ahead

A snowy front crawled into the Flathead on Tuesday, dropping as much as 4 1/2 inches of snow in Polson by early morning as it began rolling northeast on its way to Glacier National Park.

By 4 p.m. Tuesday the only fallout from the slow-moving upper-level low-pressure system in West Glacier was what Sally Thompson called "snain."

"It's kind of snow and kind of rain, so isn't that what you call it?" Thompson, owner of Glacier Raft Co., said with a chuckle.

She postponed an overnight staff-training campout that had been planned for Tuesday, but otherwise just saw a relaxed stream of visitors stopping in to plan ahead, seeing what they could do next, studying maps and "looking at photos to see what it looks like when we can see something," Thompson said.

Tuesday's dumping of snow across the Flathead Valley had locals checking their calendars to be sure it was, indeed, June 10. Flathead Valley snowfall in June is not unprecedented, but after a long string of dry, warm spring seasons the snowfall did surprise some of the newer arrivals to the valley.

More snow - including as much as 12 to 24 inches in Glacier Park - is expected to fall.

June traditionally is a rainy month in the Flathead.

By midday on Tuesday, close to a couple of inches of sloppy snow had piled up on cars and yards in Kalispell. Something like two or three inches were on the grass at the north edge of Whitefish by 3:30 in the afternoon.

"It's not sticking on our parking lot, but on the parked cars there's about two or three inches," Hertz Rent-A-Car agent Ellen Callender said from her Whitefish office at Rocky Mountains Transportation on Edgewood Road. "And it's still coming down."

A couple of the company's motor-coach drivers were out on the road earlier in the afternoon, with one reporting some snow and ice just north of Bigfork. They didn't report any problems with traffic, and Callender said it seemed motorists were taking it easy as they passed by on Edgewood.

Some 30 miles to the south and 90 minutes earlier in Lakeside, Ron Caldbeck said the clouds had been dropping little more than rain when he locked up his Lakeside Bay Marina and headed for the warm fires of home outside Kalispell.

He started seeing snow on the grass at the north end of town, and by 3:30 p.m. he had about 3 1/2 inches of heavy, wet snow on his porch on Kienas Road about 3 1/2 miles west of town. It wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

His snow was shaping up to be a time-delayed running of what his Polson nephew woke to earlier in the day - 4 1/2 inches of wet snow and a plum tree split in half.

Caldbeck, a well-seasoned Montanan, took it all in stride but said it did cost him a bit of business Tuesday morning. Some people from Corpus Christi, Texas, had planned a fishing trip for the day but the sleet at 8 a.m. put a stop to that.

"I wouldn't let them go out," Caldbeck said. "When it's like this, Flathead Lake isn't a good place to be … You can watch it come in. It'll be flat and then five minutes later you've got four-foot waves."

Gardeners and flower aficionados were casting wary eyes at the wintry landscape - and putting in plenty of phone calls to Hooper's Garden Center east of Kalispell.

General Manager Michael Connolly had a couple words for them: Don't panic.

"It's amazing how resilient plants are. Plants that have been out in the weather and are climatized should do better," he said.

Gardeners who recently set out greenhouse plants that have not yet hardened off probably should cover them for protection, but for the most part, "your plants are tougher than you think."

Besides, he said, "snow is not a bad thing, because it insulates."

With trees and shrubs, particularly young and tender-branched ones, he suggested gently shaking off the heavy snow and water to ward off potential breakage from the wet weight. Brooms are good for taller trees. Use water only as a last resort, he said, because it will add more water weight and could cause more damage.

If branches still break, a little pruning later on probably will result in a stronger tree.

Lower to the ground, flowers and vegetables can be a mixed bag.

On Tuesday, Connolly had been telling customers that low temperatures in the forecast were good reason to cover plants overnight. But unless they were covered before the snow, there's not a lot that can be done.

"Perennials, I'm pretty sure, are going to be hardier than something that you just put in, at least if they're from last year," Connolly said. "Anything just planted will be more tender."

Zinnias and marigolds - flowers that need to be planted later - will show some wear and tear from the snow if they're already outside. Geraniums, with their thicker leaf tissue, will be hardier - but the large leaf surface will be a collector for water weight that could break off the stems. Move hanging baskets and containers under a covered roof if possible.

With produce, most vegetables and small berries will be pretty safe, he said.

But tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash-family varieties such as pumpkins, melons and other goodies that normally are last to go in the garden will be most sensitive.

A frost blanket can help keep temperatures three to six degrees warmer closer to the plant. But use with caution, because it also can act as a water collector and add to the weight problem.

More foul weather is on the way today, according to the National Weather Service.

A snow advisory is in effect until noon today for the Flathead Valley, with snow likely this morning, then turning to rain this afternoon.

Snow accumulations in the valley are forecast to be 1 to 3 inches, with up to 5 inches in places.

A heavy snow warning is in effect for elevations above 4,000 feet until 6 o'clock tonight.

Some 12 to 24 inches of heavy, wet snow is forecast throughout Glacier National Park and along U.S. 2 toward Marias Pass.

Locations down to 3,000 feet are expected to receive 3 to 6 inches of snow.

"The heavy, wet snowfall associated with this system may pose significant travel difficulties as well as damage to deciduous trees that have leafed out," the Weather Service warned.

According to Peter Felsch of the Weather Service, the unusual summer snowfall has everything to do with a "strong, deep upper level low-pressure system from the Gulf of Alaska that moved into Eastern Washington and is now moving into Western Montana."

He said this weather pattern happens "maybe once every 5 to 10 years and the last time the area witnessed this type of system was in June of 2001."

The weather is expected to improve by this weekend, with temperatures rising into the 60s to 70s and smaller chances of showers.

Reporter Nancy Kimball may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com