It's cold

Flathead endures February freeze

Minus 25 predicted for this morning

An arctic blast has put the freeze on the Flathead Valley, with record low temperatures expected this morning.

The cold that settled over the valley Thursday put the chill on Big Mountain ski races and a planned dog sled race in the Polebridge area this weekend.

According to race organizer Pam Beckstrom, the Root Beer Classic is being postponed for "a couple weeks" largely because subzero temperatures are expected to be too dangerous to run dogs and have volunteers out in the field.

The cold also posed a lodging problem for race participants, said Dan Kaufman, owner of the Polebridge Mercantile.

"Some of the mushers and kids were planning on sleeping in their trucks," Kaufman said. "We don't have enough rooms for them."

Temperatures plunged to minus 27 on the back porch of the Mercantile Friday morning, Kaufman said.

So far, the old Mercantile's pipes are holding up, but North Forkers are having other problems with the cold.

"There's a lot of people running around helping other people get their vehicles started," Kaufman said. "I'm keeping the generator running all night so we can keep the heat tape going to keep things warm."

A neighbor who lives south of Polebridge reported a thermometer reading of 34 below zero Friday morning. The lowest official temperature recorded in Montana was minus 34 at Seeley Lake, according to the National Weather Service.

Early Friday temperatures dipped to minus 14 in the Kalispell area, but the cold was expected to drop to 25 below zero by this morning. That would easily exceed the record of minus 18 for Feb. 18 that was set in 1993.

The high today might reach all the way up to 9 degrees before dropping to minus 12 on Sunday morning.

Bob Nester, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula, said even lower temperatures can be expected outside Kalispell in places such as Polebridge.

The only good news to go with the cold weather is that winds have died off across Northwest Montana, Nester said.

"So we're really not expecting anything in the way of extreme or dangerous wind chills," he said.

But wind and cold combined for harsh conditions on Big Mountain. The wind died off Thursday, but by Friday morning temperatures had dropped to minus 22 at the summit and the high for the day was minus 8.

The final event Thursday in the Big Mountain's Doug and Rollie Smith Memorial races was canceled directly because of the extreme cold, said Brian Schott, the resort's spokesman. Also canceled were the Thursday night telemark league and Friday night skiing.

Schott said the cold is discouraging skiers. "We're probably seeing about half the normal visits," he said.

Skiers are being checked by lift operators for signs of frostbite and Big Mountain is operating its lifts around the clock.

"In this extreme cold, we run our high-speed lifts 24 hours a day just to keep them chugging along and avoid any start-up issues," Schott said.

Nester said the cold is the result of an arctic air mass that has moved south from northern Saskatchewan and Alberta. Cold fronts often are confined to the plains east of the Continental Divide, Nester said, but this air mass was deep enough that it easily crossed the Northern Rockies, moving well into southern Idaho.

Nester said the cold is expected to ease somewhat Sunday, when a gradual warming will begin. The forecast calls for highs in the mid-teens on Sunday.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com