The strong winds that central and western Montana dealt with earlier Wednesday are now impacting eastern Montana. Fort Peck Dam recorded a wind gust of 97 mph; Malta recorded a wind gust of 81 mph; and Glasgow recorded a wind gust of 71 mph.
There are also scattered snow showers in northeastern Montana tonight, and when you combine the strong winds with falling snow, you get blizzard conditions.
A CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE was issued for McCone County, Phillips County, Roosevelt County, and Valley County. ONLY EMERGENCY TRAVEL is allowed in those four counties right now due to hazardous driving conditions.
Highway 2 between Malta and Wolf Point and Highway 13 between Wolf Point and Circle are also CLOSED due to blizzard conditions.
The Sheriff's Offices have been responding to numerous slide-offs and stuck vehicles, and in a strongly worded message, the Phillips County Sheriff's Office urged that everyone stay home tonight as they do not have enough manpower to respond to all the calls.
The scattered snow showers will taper off after midnight and the wind will gradually diminish as we go through the rest of tonight, so conditions will improve as the night goes on. However, roads will continue to be slick and it will be extremely cold as well (wind chills as low as -30), so please be careful when driving and bundle up when outdoors.
