Whitefish Mountain Resort closed due to extreme weather

Whitefish Mountain Resort will not open on Friday, Jan 12.

The resort opened on Thursday, Jan. 11, at its usual time and slowly began closing lifts down throughout the day due to extreme, frigid temperatures at the mountain.

"Due to extreme wind and cold, Whitefish Mountain Resort shut down all skiing operations by 1 p.m. today. All lifts and terrain will remain closed tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 12. We will reopen when weather conditions are safe again," the resort said in a statement.

WMR did not open Hellroaring Basin today but other lifts were running as scheduled. By noon all chairs besides Chair 6 from the base to the village and the magic carpets were shut down.

The 11:45 a.m. update on the resort's website said, "Wind chill values have reached below -50 degrees and we cannot in good conscience keep the upper mountain open."

Fifteen minutes later, the update said Chairs 2 and 3 were also going to close.

Big Mountain received 26 inches of snow over the last seven days and has opened up 85% of its terrain after a slow start to the season.

The mountain will remain closed until further notice. 

Weather is expected to be even chillier through the next few days. At 4 p.m. today, Thursday, Jan. 11, it was -22 degrees at the summit with 21 mph wind and up to 37 mph gusts. 

Friday, Jan. 12, the high at the summit is predicted to be -27 degrees with wind chill values as low as -71. Saturday it remains cold with a high of -22 at the summit of Big Mountain.

For updated information check the WMR website at skiwhitefish.com.