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In 2025, Montana Public Radio brought you the critically important news you needed and the music you love every day. Thi...
12/30/2025

In 2025, Montana Public Radio brought you the critically important news you needed and the music you love every day. This is possible because listeners like you make a financial contribution for the programs you depend on. You can join in today by making your donation to help us start strong in 2026. Thank you!

What are you seeing out there Montana? Dangerous driving conditions are impacting the entire state. Downed trees and pow...
12/17/2025

What are you seeing out there Montana?

Dangerous driving conditions are impacting the entire state. Downed trees and powerlines are blocking major roadways across northwest Montana, including Highway 93 from Ronan to Kalispell, State Highway 200 from Thompson Falls to Noxon, and Highway 2 from Kalispell to Libby. Lincoln County is under emergency travel only, and Missoula residents have been advised not to travel.

NorthWestern Energy’s outage map as of 10 a.m. reported loss of power to thousands of customers in Thompson Falls, Plains, St. Regis, Superior, Alberton, Missoula, Corvallis, Hamilton, Butte and Bozeman.

There are a couple fallen trees outside our offices in Missoula. What are you seeing?

Winds could reach 100 mph in western Montana Wednesday !A powerful storm system is expected to crash into a wide swath o...
12/17/2025

Winds could reach 100 mph in western Montana Wednesday !

A powerful storm system is expected to crash into a wide swath of Montana this week.

National Weather Service officials in Missoula say the inbound storm could have more widespread impacts than the one that thrashed western Montana in July of 2024.

The entire Northern Rockies is likely to experience wind gusts greater than 50 mph early Wednesday morning through the afternoon.

Great Falls, Lewistown and Helena could get winds of 65 to 75 mph.

Cut Bank and Browning in north-central Montana have a 50% chance of wind speeds of 85 mph to 90 mph all day Wednesday.

These strong winds could damage structures and lead to dangerous driving conditions. They could also knock down trees in the already rain-saturated soil leading to widespread power outages. Officials say repairs to the power grid are extremely difficult, if not impossible, under those conditions.

Many regions by the end of the workweek will see much cooler temperatures with more rain, snow or a mix of both.

The active weather pattern could potentially last into the beginning of the new year.

12/16/2025

⚠️ THREAT FOR DAMAGING WINDS: WEDNESDAY ⚠️

A strong cold front will bring strong to potentially damaging west-southwest winds across North-central Idaho, Western Montana and Lemhi County, ID.

🗓️ WHEN: Wednesday

💨 WIND GUSTS:
Valleys: 50-70 mph
Mountains/Divide: 80-100 mph

🚨 KEY THREATS:
Downed Trees/Blocked Roads: elevated risk due to strong winds & wet/unfrozen ground.
Power Outages
Infrastructure Damage

✅ ACTIONABLE STEPS:
Secure loose outdoor items.
Charge electronic devices.
Use extreme caution when traveling and be aware of falling trees/debris.

Stay safe and check the latest updates from NWS Missoula: weather.gov/missoula

The high winds with this atmospheric river took down a number of trees around our KUFN transmitter serving the Bitterroo...
12/12/2025

The high winds with this atmospheric river took down a number of trees around our KUFN transmitter serving the Bitterroot Valley.

There was a large tree caught in the guywires of our tower, and another tree destroyed the satellite receive dish for our program signal.

There were also dozens of trees down across the road. It took 3 hours of running the chainsaw to get to the site and another couple to clear the tree on the guywire and re-tension it!

We're grateful none of the trees hit our shipping container building or took out the tower.

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Missoula, MT

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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Montana news, arts & culture and hand-picked music. On your radio or online at www.mtpr.org, NPR One, or wherever you get your podcasts.