More than 1,000 Flathead Electric Cooperative members are in the dark this morning after a windstorm knocked out power between West Glacier and Essex.
Flathead Electric was reporting six different outages, including in Kalispell, Bigfork and Woods Bay, but the largest outage was along the U.S. Highway 2 corridor along the southern edge of Glacier National Park.
The outage was sparked by a windstorm that entered the area overnight. The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory or high wind warning for much of the area until 11 a.m. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour were expected along with gusts up to 55 miles per hour. Even higher winds are expected east of the divide where the warning has been extended until 5 p.m.