If you were wondering when the first cold snap of the winter is going to freeze over the Flathead Valley, it’s time to buckle up for the “season’s coldest air” spilling into the region tonight with wind chills dropping below zero, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

A “potent” arctic high-pressure system will push cold air westward across the Continental Divide, where wind chills are expected to reach negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Lows in Kalispell are forecast to remain above zero while areas on the east side of the divide will likely drop below zero – but that’s nothing compared to the far northeast corner of the state where wind chills could drop to negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

But instead of bringing snow, this weather system will just add more discomfort and misery to the already bad skiing, snowmobiling, sledding, snowman-building, [insert snow activity here]. But don’t worry, after the arctic air moves through the region, fog will return early next week.

The desperation for snow-starved recreationists is palpable as snow reporters at Whitefish Mountain Resort relish in the imaginary snowflakes supposedly witnessed this morning, with one report going so far as to declare that “it sure is fun to feel like you’re in a snow globe.” But I fear she may have been hallucinating.

Flathead Avalanche Center forecasters appear to be losing their positivity in their daily advisories, too, but one still managed to highlight how the inch of snow that fell near the Continental Divide was just enough to cool down their snowmobiles, which have been overheating due to the lack of snow. Forecaster Cam Johnson wrote in today’s avalanche advisory that the frozen surface and the arctic airmass will pose the most significant hazards.

Despite this Dry January, the Flathead River basin is maintaining an average snowpack with the snow water equivalent (SWE) sitting at 98% of normal while the Sun-Teton-Marias basin on the east side of the Continental Divide is at 103%.

In the northern Whitefish Range near Eureka, the Stahl Peak weather station sitting at an elevation of 6,040 feet has a SWE of 119% but the nearby Grave Creek station, which sits at 4,350 feet, is only 42% of normal.

Meanwhile, the rivers are still raging for this time of year in the aftermath of an atmospheric river that dropped inches of rain in the valleys last month. The Middle Fork Flathead River is flowing at 1,810 cubic feet per second (cfs) compared to its median flow of 580 cfs for Jan. 22.

This uninspiring winter has triggered a desire to enter an alternate dimension, which I plan to this spring, assuming I can snag tickets to the Claypool Gold show at the Kettlehouse Amphitheater in Missoula where all three of Les Claypool’s bands will play on one face-melting night. I’ll have to wait till Memorial Day though, so in the meantime, Dirty Dancing in Concert at the Wachholz College Center in Kalispell tomorrow will have to do.

I’m Maggie Dresser, here with today’s Roundup.