Cold grips US as Havre sets new record low

Havre hit a record low of -44 last night, surpassing the previous record of -43 set more than a century ago in 1907, and while temperatures are poised to rise somewhat as the week progresses, it looks like a winter storm is on the way Tuesday night.

The cold this weekend was so extreme that it caused Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation to declare a state of emergency just after 2 p.m. Saturday and tribal officials set up an incident command center to coordinate service in emergency situations.

Ten hours later Rocky Boy Health Center Emergency Services asked people to call 911 and Rocky Boy Law Enforcement instead of them due to high call volumes.

An announcement sent out by the tribe Saturday urged everyone to stay home or seek shelter in a warm place until the worst was over with.

The Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church opened its doors to anyone in need of warmth and food and the tribe’s Natural Resources Department offered wood to those in need as propane became more difficult to deliver.

As for this morning, most local schools that were planning to be open today announced they would have late starts with several altering or canceling morning buses.

The North Star School District with high school in Rudyard and the elementary in Gildford announced Sunday that it would have a late start today, with classes at 10 a.m., and announced this morning that no morning buses would run.

The district said in a release Sunday that, due to the extreme cold temperatures and prioritizing the health and safety of students and staff the North Star School would be running a delayed start.

With the delayed start, the school will not be providing breakfast, the release added.

CJI schools announced Sunday that due to the cold weather and to put students and staff first, it would delay the start of school until 10:15 a.m., with the school release at the normal time of 3:39.

The Sunday release said that, as the weather was expected to warm up by afternoon, extracurricular activities and Missoula Children’s Theatre would continue today as scheduled.

Big Sandy Schools also announced Sunday it would have a delayed start and no buses this morning due to the extreme cold.

“Thank you for supporting this decision as it was made to keep our students and staff safe,” a post on the Big Sandy Schools live feed said.

Box Elder Schools closed and canceled activities Friday due to the cold and road conditions, and basketball games scheduled for Saturday, and said in its announcement that schools were closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Harlem schools also were taking a 10 a.m. start today with only in-town buses running and no rural routes running this morning. The school also posted that basketball games versus Rocky Boy High School had been postponed.

Rocky Boy Schools also made an announcement Sunday that school would be delayed to 9 a.m. today and no morning buses would run.

No one answered at Hays-Lodge Pole School District or high school and Havre Daily could not find any online announcements from the district.

Turner Public Schools announced on Facebook Sunday it would have a late start, at 10 a.m., and morning buses will run two hours later than normal.

Havre Public Schools also were closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The National Weather Service extended its wind chill warning through this morning followed by a less severe wind chill advisory that will last from now until Tuesday at 11 a.m.

At 11 p.m. that night a winter storm advisory will begin and last until 11 a.m. Thursday, with a 90 percent chance of snow listed during that time and a predicted accumulation of between 3 and 9.5 inches over the course of the advisory.

Today is predicted to have a high of -12 and a low of -26 with wind chill values -50.

Tuesday will see a 40 percent chance of snow, mainly after 9 a.m. but accumulation is predicted to be less than half an inch until nightfall.

The high is predicted to be near 17 and a low near 2 with wind chill values as low as -20.

In addition to the snow Wednesday is predicted to have a high near 10 and a low around -8, while Thursday will likely have a high of around 3 and a low of around -15 as the winter storm advisory ends.

Friday there will be a slight chance of snow before 11 a.m. and a high near 11 and a low of 0 and Saturday the high will be 29 with a low around 15 as temperatures may peak back above freezing early next week.

For now this region, as well as much of the U.S. remains dangerously cold with the Weather Service announcing it expects many tied or broken records.