By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Glendive and the surrounding area were still digging out from the Christmas snowstorm when another struck over New Year’s, adding several inches more of the white stuff to the local tally and playing additional havoc with roads and travel.
After closing out one of the snowiest Decembers on record, Glendive is off to a fast start for snowfall in January 2017, with another 4-5 inches of powder falling around the city and surrounding area over the course of Sunday and Monday. National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Hickford noted Tuesday the weather service has received a few different readings from the Glendive area, with some closer to 4 inches and some closer to 5.
With all the snow already still on the roads from the Christmas storm, an additional 4-5 inches — and again falling on an official holiday — didn’t do travelers or road crews any favors.
It also proved to be too much for Glendive Public Schools’ buses, which did not run Tuesday morning.
Superintendent Ross Farber said he and district transportation director Charles Phipps met early Tuesday morning and determined they were only likely to cause problems if they dispatched the bus fleet out that morning.
Farber said they decided the buses were just likely to get stuck, especially trying to navigate some of the unplowed streets in residential neighborhoods or trying to climb any steep hill. Not wanting to further clutter the roadways with stuck school buses that could hinder snow removal efforts, the district decided to call off busing for that morning.
“We thought it was important to let the clean-up crews have a chance to pick up the snow,” Farber said, further noting that “it was kind of a twist of fate” that the snow fell again on a day that was a federal holiday, meaning snow removal crews were not operating at full strength and so the roads were still quite bad by Tuesday morning.
The buses were back out and running Tuesday afternoon. As for any affects on student attendance, Farber said the vast majority of students still found their way to school.
“I made it to all the schools and it looked like most of the classrooms were full,” he said. “The majority of the kids are here.”
That being said, some weren’t. Farber noted, for instance, that Lincoln Elementary School reported about 50 students absent at first bell Tuesday morning, though those who missed school that day will not face any repercussions.
“Some kids didn’t come, they just didn’t,” Farber said. “But we didn’t count it against the kids that they missed today, we understand.”
Aside from difficulties for school buses traveling, the roads around the area remain slick and potentially dangerous.
According to the Montana Highway Patrol’s incident report website, some 32 highway accidents happened in Dawson County alone between Dec. 28 and Jan. 2.
MHP District V commander Capt. Ed Hilbert said he hasn’t even stopped to count the number, his troopers have stayed so busy.
“The troops have been busy running to (crashes),” Hilbert said.
He added that for all the crashes piling up, there’s been “nothing too serious” since the Montana Department of Transportation’s snowplow was struck on Dec. 26. Most of the crashes the MHP has dealt with are people sliding off the road.
That being said, Hilbert cautioned all motorists to be keenly aware of the current road conditions and adjust their driving habits accordingly.
“If you’re going to take an exit, change lanes or make a turn, you need to do it a lot slower,” he said. “It’s inconvenient, but it’s much better than getting yourself or your passengers killed because you got impatient.”
Hilbert also stressed the importance of having “good equipment” like snow tires or chains and of keeping your windshield, mirrors, headlights and taillights cleaned off so you can both see and bee seen, even if that means pulling over to the side of the road to wipe off a dirty windshield.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.