Jackknifed Semi Blocks Traffic, Stretch of I-90 Under Winter Weather Advisory
A stretch of I-90 that runs through Mineral County continues to be under a winter weather advisory. On Monday night and early Tuesday morning, the same stretch of road saw a number of vehicles slide and a semi jackknifed blocking traffic. National weather service meteorologist Dan Zumpfe says the advisory will persist until midday Wednesday, February 22,
"Some places have even gotten rain turned to ice," said Zumpfe. "In the area where there is winter weather advisory west of Missoula and I-90, they can expect patches of snow cover on the road. Even where it looks like it is wet you have to be careful because black ice will definitely be something that is a possibility."
Despite the winter weather advisory on I-90, Missoula has seen more rain than snow in recent weeks, but Zumpfe says it’s not quite time to put the snow shovels away for long term storage.
"If we look back at 2014, late February, we had our big blizzard event in Missoula and really caused a lot of snow havoc around the area," Zumpf said. "We certainly have a scenario coming up next week that could bring us some arctic air. It is not out of the question to have snow on the ground at the end of February, though it tends to last a lot less time."
If snow does come during the last days of February, Zumpfe says the storm will likely only last two or three days and the snow from the storm will likely recede quickly.