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Winter Snowstorm, Cold Front Headed for Flathead Valley

National Weather Service is forecasting 5 to 10 inches of snowfall over a three-day period in Kalispell

By Dillon Tabish
A heavy frost settles on trees at the Whitefish Lake Golf Course on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

An approaching snowstorm is about to make one of the driest Novembers on record a distant memory.

The National Weather Service is forecasting 5 to 10 inches of snowfall over a three-day period in Kalispell and the surrounding valley starting Friday, Dec. 2. The snowstorm, followed by a cold front, is expected to blanket the mountain ranges with up to 2 feet of snow.

“It’s going to be a pretty good (snowstorm),” Bob Nester, NWS meteorologist in Missoula, said Thursday.

An Arctic air system is moving south from Alaska through British Columbia and Alberta and should hit Northwest Montana by Monday, according to the NWS. Temperatures could drop into the single digits and approach zero degrees on Monday and Tuesday. Wind gusts up to 25 mph are expected in Bad Rock Canyon.

The abundant snowfall is welcome news for skiers. Whitefish Mountain Resort, which is expected to receive several inches of snow in the coming days, is slated to open for the season on Dec. 7.

The heavy snowfall should also make up for a dreary November. Kalispell normally receives 9.3 inches of snow in the month of November, according to NWS stats. This year saw only 0.7 inches, almost all of which came in the final hours of Nov. 30. The monthly total ranks seventh all time for lowest snowfall for November since NWS records started being kept in 1899.

If it weren’t for the light snowfall on the final night of November, this year would’ve ranked at the bottom along with 2008, 1953 and 1939 when only “trace” amounts were recorded, according to the NWS. In 2012, only 0.3 inches of snow was recorded in November.

The unseasonably dry November came on the heels of the wettest October on record.