Lincoln dodges brunt of early winter storm

Lincoln got off light during the winter storm that blanketed most of western and north central Montana in deep snow.

According to the National Weather service, the Lincoln area only received about five-and-a-half inches of snow, on the lower end of a list that saw areas east of the mountains covered in several feet of snow.

The towns of Babb and Browning topped the list, with snow depths of 48 and 42 inches, respectively, while Augusta and Choteau both saw a total of 19 inches from the storm.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency just before noon Sunday in response to the storm, as the heavy snow fall and high winds across western Montana and the northern plains led to downed trees, power outages and hazardous driving conditions.

Areas further to the east, also saw more snow than the Lincoln area with both Lewistown and Grass range in Fergus county receiving nine inches.

The National Weather Service storm summary also shows the blizzard set a 24-hour snowfall record in Great Falls, with 17.7 inches of snow falling between 11 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, but the storm tapered off and with 19.5 inches, the final total fell below the April, 2009 48-hour record there by about five inches.

Several communities in central Montana also reported record cool high temperatures, with Stanford recording a high of just 29 degrees, four degrees lower that the previous record of 33 set just last year.

West of Lincoln, snowfall totals in communities stood at six-inches or less, but according to the Missoulian, it was the first time measurable snow fell in the town in September since 1983.

According opt the Montana Highway Patrol incident website, there were no accidents in the Lincoln area as a result of the storms, although the Montana Department of Transportation reported three spun out semis on Highway 200 Saturday between Rogers pass and the Bowman’s Corner area. A semi that spun out on Rogers’s Pass Saturday blocked the westbound lane for nearly three hours.