Buried: knee-deep snow socks in valley
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LAKE COUNTY – A large, unusual winter storm blanketed the Mission Valley over the course of two days last week, causing treacherous travel conditions, school closures and sore backs for those without a snow blower. Most of the Valley saw at least a foot of the white stuff, while the southern portion of Lake County saw up to two feet in some areas.
According to meteorologist Trent Smith, who works out of the Missoula National Weather Service office, the storm was typical of a La Niña storm, but the longevity and persistent snow for close to 48 hours was not so typical.
“We get at least one storm like this a winter,” Smith said. “It’s kind of hit and miss. We get more moisture during a La Niña winter with good precipitation and the valleys are hit-and-miss. Some winters they get a lot of snow in the valleys, and some years we don’t.”
The North Fork of the Jocko weather station recorded 29 inches, or 2.4 feet of snow from the storm by Friday, while the Moss Peak weather station measured 21 inches of fresh snow.
The storm intensified during the daytime hours Jan. 18 and 19, causing dozens of traffic incidents. Most of the accidents were vehicles sliding off the roadway, and Captain Luc Mathias with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office says many of the accidents could’ve been prevented if drivers would slow down.
“The majority of the calls have been slide-ins in the ditch,” Mathias said. “My main recommendation would be for people to drive more carefully and slow down. People don’t realize it’s slick, so they don’t slow down, especially people with SUVs with four-wheel drive.”
Mathias says it’s common to have a large number of vehicle accidents during the first large winter storm of the season, as many drivers are rusty when it comes to driving on snow and ice.
“Every time we have the first big snow, we have these kinds of situations,” he noted.
Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Funke also responded to a number of vehicle slide-offs and a Ronan school bus that slid into a ditch on Canal Road Friday morning.
“We’ve had quite a few, but no injuries that I know of so far,” Funke said. “I used manpower to push three or four people out.”
By Friday morning, Funke said most of the side roads were getting plowed, and that a lot of secondary roads like Back Road had one lane plowed.
“If cars drive slow, they should be fine,” Funke said.
On the streets, county plow crews were working all day and night to clear the endless piles of snow. Since most storms this winter have had only minor accumulations, County Road Supervisor Larry Ehle said it was hard to test his equipment before the high demand of last week.
“It was the first real snow of the year, and we haven’t had a chance to use our equipment,” Ehle said. “We’ve had failed gears, hydraulic hoses and failed equipment that’s old.”
Ehle says the road department’s trucks are 15 years old and the graders are 30 years old, making the first trip out of the gate a learning experience.
“The equipment’s old, and I only have 12 guys on 766 miles of road,” he said. “I heard on the news it was one of the biggest storms in terms of snow. Where I come from it’s just snow.”
According to substitute postal carrier Suzie Smith in Ronan, walking around town has been a little bit of a struggle with snow reaching more than a foot in many places.
“Getting around is a little tough,” Smith said. “But the townspeople have been awesome. They helped put the chains on the mail truck for us. This is an awesome little community.”
In Arlee, the snow brought back memories of storms past. Twenty years ago, Drew Hendrickson of Arlee remembers the winters blanketing the area, but it’s been years since he can recall a storm like this.
“As long as it doesn’t get below zero, it doesn’t bother me,” Hendrickson said, who dug out using his tractor and blade.
This was a plus for Hendrickson’s wife Lolita, who works for the Early Childhood Center, and was given an extra hour to drive to work.
“I like the looks of it,” Hendrickson’s wife, Lolita chimed in. “We need the snow.”
Shelly Fyant, who commutes with another person from Arlee to Kicking Horse Job Corps, where she works, took to the streets in her own vehicle because it had studded tires.
“Yesterday (the roads) were pretty bad,” Fyant said, but said she returned home to find her son had shoveled. Fyant said her 72-year-old mother shoveled herself out of the snowpack, adding that her mother “is in really good shape.”
Fyant was one of the many who braved the roads to watch the Arlee boys take on Superior Jan. 20., when several games in the area were canceled. She planned to check the road and weather reports before traveling to Hot Springs the next day to watch the Warriors play the Savage Heat.
Fyant shared Hendrickson’s sentiments about this winter’s first storm.
“It was nothing to get snowed in like that, 20 years ago,” Fyant echoed.
