Western Montana windstorm leaves thousands without power

High winds blasted western Montana on Wednesday, leaving thousands without power, knocking down trees and leaving wreckage across the region.

The National Weather Service forecasted widespread damaging winds to last through Wednesday morning throughout the region. Wind gusts exceeding 60 mph were recorded in Missoula and other valleys, while downed trees and powerlines blocked highways across the region.

A high wind warning from the National Weather Service remained in effect through 5 p.m. Wednesday for much of the region.

“We want to make sure people are only traveling only if they need to,” NWS Meteorologist Trent Parker said. “If they do need to travel, to make sure they are very careful and not trying to drive over powerlines.”

By noon, power remained out for a broad swath of northwest Montana, according to Flathead Electric Cooperative’s outage map, which showed more than 20,000 customers without power in the region. That included more than 18,000 customers in the Flathead Valley and thousands more in the communities around Libby and Hungry Horse. “Customers” refers to households and businesses, so those numbers undercount the total number of people affected by an outage.

Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino issued a shelter-in-place order for schools until noon and told the Missoulian that Wednesday’s storm was the most significant county-wide event he’d experienced during his 23 years with the sheriff’s office.

“This is the first time I’ve really seen this type of scenario,” Heino said. “... Overall, this is the largest I’ve seen for damages, county-wide.”

Downed trees and powerlines temporarily shut down highways across the region, according to the Montana Department of Transportation, including multiple blockages along I-90. Heino said a portion of Highway 93 along Flathead Lake was closed after a semi-truck overturned and blocked traffic.

He added, “We have not had any reports of major injuries over here, thankfully.”

On the Flathead Indian Reservation, more than 1,300 customers remained without power as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Mission Valley Power. Outages were mostly concentrated around Finley Point.

Along the Interstate 90 corridor, including in Alberton and Superior, more than 3,100 Northwestern Energy customers were in the dark throughout the day, according to the company’s outage map. Those outages remained in effect as of Wednesday afternoon.

And more than 2,500 customers in the Hamilton area had lost power Wednesday morning and continuing into the afternoon, along with more outages scattered up and down the Bitterroot Valley.

Power had been restored to 1,179 Northwestern Energy customers in Missoula Wednesday morning, according to the company’s outage map, but smaller outages continued to ripple through town into the afternoon. Additional unconfirmed outages were reported across the valley and west to Bonner.

The National Weather Service has predicted the region’s valleys could see wind gusts potentially reaching 80 mph, with up to 100 mph in mountain locations. At Highlands Golf Course south of Missoula’s Pattee Canyon, a wind gust of 90 mph was recorded, according to NWS, while the agency’s mountain weather station at Point Six above Snowbowl hit 89 mph.

Downed power lines and trees temporarily blocked portions of I-90 and other highways in the region. The Montana Department of Transportation reported all westbound lanes of I-90 were blocked by fallen trees just east of Lookout Pass as of 8:30 a.m., but the roadway was reopened later in the morning. Trees were also down across interstate lanes farther east, between Haugan and Saltese, MDT stated, and partial blockages of the interstate continued to be reported into Wednesday afternoon.

On Highway 12 west of Lolo, trees and debris had been blown onto the roadway across a 16-miles stretch as of 8:20 a.m., according to MDT.

The Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office asked residents to restrict their travel to emergencies only in a social media post that included a double-digit list of roads blocked to traffic.

Hamilton resident Jackson Jessop captured videos of massive ponderosa pine trees toppling like dominoes into the river and onto the ground at the Bitterroot River Lodge.

“I could hear the wind start to pick up and I saw a couple trees going into the river,” Jessop said. “That’s when I started filming.”

He added at least 50 of the massive trees had blown down in the immediate vicinity of the lodge, where he works. Two buildings were damaged, he said, but no guests are currently staying at the lodge during its off-season.

In Lincoln County, where widespread flooding washed away bridges and inundated homes and businesses less than a week ago, the emergency officials likewise urged emergency travel only.

NWS forecasters expect the storm to transition into periodic bands of snow across the region, with intermittent gusty conditions possible the rest of the day.

“It’s not so much the total amount of snow, but the snowfall rates, because those could be pretty intense at times,” NWS Meteorologist Trent Parker said. “With the wind we’re expecting reduced visibilities and some rapidly changing conditions out on the roadways.”

He said the region should experience “a very short reprieve” Thursday, before snow and rain returns around noon, with more snow possible closer to the Canadian border.