Snowstorm shuts down some schools, some roads

Heavy snowfall in the area led to schools being closed or delayed today, but other than some road closures - including some people being shut in - the record-setting snowstorm does not seem to have caused any major disasters.

The Havre area was covered in more than 10.5 inches of snow during the weekend and into today, including a record-setting day for Feb. 3

The snow began Friday, "with a trace," Great Falls National Weather Service meteorologist Keith Jaszka said this morning.

Havre received 4.5 inches Saturday, breaking a record for Feb. 3.

Sunday and Monday got another 3 inches each day.

The record set for Friday, Feb. 2, is 3.5 inches, set in 1986, while the record for Feb. 3 was .36 inches, set in 1975. The normal amount of snow received in Havre by Feb. 3 is .05 inches for the month.

Since Dec. 1, Havre has received 26.6 inches of snow, Weather Service reports, compared to a normal value of 10.6 inches.

Last year by Feb. 3, Havre had received 28.7 inches since Dec. 1.

Available reports suggest Blaine and Chouteau counties received less snow in the weekend storm. An observer near Fort Belknap, Jaszka said, reported about 5 inches of snow during the weekend, and one near Loma in Chouteau County had reported 6.4 inches, not including today, he said.

Chouteau County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Deb Gessaman said this morning that the amount of snow prevented her from going to work this morning.

Jaszka said no snowfall reports for Liberty were available yet.

The snow led to some school closures or delayed openings.

In Havre, the public schools and St. Jude Thaddeus School as well as North Star High School in Rudyard and North Star Elementary School in Gildford, opened two hours later than usual, with some, though not all, Havre public school buses running two hours later than usual.

Chester-Joplin-Inverness schools in Chester and the schools in Box Elder and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation closed completely today.

Most area schools began classes on time.

Gwen Kane, the substitute secretary at Big Sandy Schools, said that, though classes began on time, many students were absent and that a few others came in late.

The snow did lead to some problems on the roads outside of the road closures.

A police dispatcher with the Rocky Boy Police Department said this morning a portion of Upper Box Elder Road that runs from the Chippewa Cree Tribal Water Resources Department to the Laredo Intersection has been closed.

He added that over the weekend there had been multiple reports of vehicles sliding off roads, and minor fender benders, but no reported injuries from car crashes.

Jim Ghekiere, director of the Liberty County Weed Department and the county's 911 coordinator, said no roads have been officially closed, but there have been reports of several vehicles stuck on roads in the county's more rural areas.

He added that several medical emergencies had also been called in over the weekend.

Though roads are snow packed on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Fort Belknap Roads Maintenance Director Pete Bishop said no roads have been closed.

No accidents have been reported on the reservation, a Fort Belknap Police dispatcher said.

Roads in Blaine County are covered in snow, but there were no road closures as of this morning, County Road Supervisor Dirk Drugge said.

"We're currently plowing, but we don't have any problems." he said.

A dispatcher with the Blaine County Sheriff's Department said no accidents or reports of vehicles sliding off the road had come in as of this morning.

Havre Fire Department Chief Mel Paulson said this morning the fire department didn't receive any more calls than usual over the weekend, as the roads still had traction. Once the weather warms a little and the roads become a little more "greasy," he said, he anticipates more calls.

One common medical call that seems to increase in times of heavy snowfall, Paulson said, are ones relating to back pain. Some people tend to overstress their bodies when shoveling snow.