An early taste of winter

Technically speaking, winter is still two months away. But that didn’t stop Mother Nature from sending a frigid message over the weekend, with up to a foot of snow Friday night and record-setting low temperatures Saturday and Sunday.

The situation was bad enough in Polson, which received at least 8 inches of snow and saw a low of 6 degrees Saturday and Sunday with highs in the low 20s.

Elsewhere in the region, however, things got pretty crazy. Hot Springs experienced a record low of minus-14 Monday morning, according to Jeff Kitsmiller with the National Weather Service in Missoula. Kalispell hit 0 degrees Monday, the earliest time of the year that town had ever hit 0 or below.

To the south, Missoula recorded minus-7 Sunday.

“That’s the coldest it’s ever been (in October) in Missoula,” Kitsmiller said.

And it was minus-13 at the Ronan airport Sunday.

The coldest spot in the state was Potomac, about 25 miles east of Missoula, where the mercury fell to minus 29 on Sunday morning. That was the coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous U.S. this early in the year. The previous record was minus 20 at Babb on Oct. 24-25, 1919.

Friday’s storm brough 8-12 inches of snow throughout the Mission Valley, with Dixon topping out at 15 inches and Arlee with 12.

Dayton received 11 inches in the initial onslaught.

Missoula was hit with 13.5 inches in the 24-hour period from noon Friday to noon Saturday. It was the eighth most ever for any two-day total during any month for Missoula, and the second most ever received in October, according to Kistmiller.

He said Monday to expect the region to remain relatively cold through the week, with the air getting warmer in time for Halloween.

“There’s so much snow and ice that you need something big to change it, and it looks like Saturday will be the day.”

Kitsmiller said to expect temperatures in the upper 40s for Saturday.