When Blaine County residents left work Friday afternoon in preparation for the weekend in front of them many were focused on battening down the hatches and preparing for what was predicted to be a severe early-season winter storm.

Fresh on the minds of many residents was the heavy snowfall that fell upon the region during record setting and extreme damage causing storm that occurred in the first week of October 2017. That storm paralyzed the county, leaving thousands without power for days on end while knocking down trees and destroying buildings in the process.

This past weekends storm didn't materialize to that level, which we are grateful for, but its impact left its mark on the region with a few school events postponed due to road conditions where, in places there was plenty of snow and severe winds that caused low visibility and heavy drifting.

It's not uncommon for snow to grace us in North Central Montana during the month of September and after 2017 it is something that we do not take for granted. Blaine County officials and residents have become much better prepared and are ready to face the sudden challenges a big storm may present.

The National Weather Service has developed a system of alerting local officials and residents of impending storms. As the potential for the storm increases and the severity can be better identified the National Weather Service sends out alerts. In this storms case those alerts began going out Monday and when its impact became more imminent, local officials were on hand to take part in a webinar to inform them of what to expect and what steps need to be taken to prepare their department.

Webinars took place Thursday and Friday for Blaine County residents and the Blaine County Commissioners, Road Department, Sheriff, DEQ and Public Health Officials took part in the seminar.

The Blaine County Commissioners office stated that all of their equipment was serviced, fueled up and ready to go. As it turned out the valley along highway 2 between Chinook and Harlem, extending to the county line, largely escaped any measurable snowfall will large swatches of land free of the white stuff. Winds were normal for the region with some strong gusts.

Those areas south of Chinook past Cleveland and on down to the Missouri River Breaks were hit significantly harder with some spots measuring more than two feet of snow. Many residents reported strong sustained high winds throughout the weekend and not calming down until early Monday Morning.

Heading south out of Harlem towards Hays and Lodge Pole residents experienced a similar situation with heavy snowfall and high winds. The Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbird Homecoming football game was postponed until Tuesday afternoon due to unsafe road conditions.

North of Chinook and Harlem on the Big Flat residents reported 8"-10" of snow, with the side-note that an accurate measurement was unlikely to to the heavy drifting that came along with the high winds.

While the storm may have never reached the 'Snowmageddon" level of 2017, one thing is absolutely clear. Blaine County was much better prepared in case it did.

The common theme Friday afternoon was making sure they were prepared, people had the generators fueled up, tractors ready to go, plows on their pickups or four wheelers ready to go and plenty of essential supplies stocked up.

NorthWestern Energy had brought on extra staff in case of large scale power outages and also created a feature on their website for residents to monitor those outages and get an estimate on how long service would be affected.

Thankfully we did not need to utilize any of those resources but its comforting to know they were in place, just in case.