New Year's snow just misses record

Snow leaves ruts on a driveway off of Badland Road Wednesday morning.

A steady snowfall in the region surprised some, with a New Year's Day storm surpassing what most forecasters had expected to be, at most, a few flurries.

National Weather Service reported this morning that 2 inches of snow was recorded at its station just west of Havre at the Havre City-County Airport.

Some spotters, including just east of Havre, reported more, with as much as 4 inches or greater snowfall on the holiday.

The official amount just misses setting a new record.

Weather Service reports the greatest amount of snowfall officially recorded on New Year's Day in Havre as 2.3 inches in 1907.

AccuWeather.com reported widespread snowfall, from Rudyard to Big Sandy to Chinoook at just less than 2 inches with a report in Harlem of 4 inches.

The temperatures were more moderate for New Year, with Weather Service reporting a low of 13 degrees at 12:05 a. m. with a high temperature of 32 degrees at 2:48 p. m.

The normal temperatures for Jan. 1 in Havre are a low of 6 and a high of 28. The records were set with a high in 1964 of 58 degrees and the low a frigid minus 32 in 1924.

Forecasters are in agreement about moderating weather in the next week, with no new precipitation expected for Havre and highs in the 20s to 40s, depending on the forecasting service and lows from the single digits in some forecasts to the 20s in others.

Weather Service predicted a high Thursday of 44, with highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s through next Tuesday afternoon. That forecast calls for mostly sunny skies through Tuesday.

The Weather Channel forecast for Havre calls for a high Thursday of 29, with highs in the 20s and 30s and lows in the 20s through Tuesday, with a slight chance of precipitation through the weekend and early next week.

AccuWeather.com predicts highs in the 20s and low 30s through Saturday, with a chance of snow flurries Friday and a low of 4 degrees tonight, 18 Thursday and 9 degrees Friday. That forecast predicts highs in the 30s and lows in the teens to 20s Sunday through Tuesday.