Wind Advisory 10, NWS Pocatello, ID

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
1134 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Strong winds continue through Saturday

- Periods of light mountain snow will persist through Saturday,
  primarily above 6000 ft, leading to occasional winter travel
  conditions on a few area passes.

- A major warming trend arrives next week. Valley temperatures
  will likely reach the 70s by mid week, and some areas could
  see 80 degree highs.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 1208 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026

The wind machine remains activated through the next 48 hours.
Winds will be lighter today, with gusts 25-35 mph common across
the area. Higher gusts today will be in the 35-50 mph range,
across higher elevations and most of the Snake Plain and Magic
Valley. We have a WIND ADVISORY for the Snake Plain from late
morning through around sunset. We will see a break in the
wind tonight, but still expect it to be breezy. Winds will
slowly ramp up in the morning, with them peaking in the
afternoon. We may see winds in some areas a bit subdued in the
morning despite strong winds off the surface increasing, and the
pressure gradient tightening. This due to clouds and showers
holding things up a bit. If we can get clearing earlier in the
day, expect high winds sooner. Widespread gusts of 30-55 mph
are forecast. Gusts up to 65 mph are expected across the Snake
Plain, Magic Valley, adjacent bench areas, South Hills/Albion
Mountains, and central mountains. There is a 20-40% chance of
exceeding 75 mph across portions of the central mountains, the
South Hills/Albion Mountains. We will definitely need another
round of WIND ADVISORIES and HIGH WIND WARNINGS for Saturday. We
will hold off until later today to see how we want to arrange
those headlines. As the low races southeast, winds will quickly
turn northwest but remain pretty strong until after midnight.

We are still watching some light precipitation falling across
portions of the central mountains and eastern highlands. Most of
this is falling across the Sawtooths and surrounding ranges,
mountains around Island Park into Yellowstone and Tetons. We
will see an uptick tomorrow as the low races across our area,
but nothing too outlandish in any give 6 hour period. We did
decrease some of the precipitation amounts across the central
mountains, as higher resolution models were producing
unrealistic amounts even with a strong upslope component for
higher ridgelines. We will need to watch tomorrow night as we
will see a convergence band race south, along and east of I-15.
Additional precipitation amounts of 0.20-0.50" are possible in
the eastern and southeast highlands. Higher amounts are possible
along the Wyoming border into the Tetons. The bulk of the
moisture in the central mountains falls from Galena Summit north
and west, where 0.40-1.0" is forecast. There is a 10-30% chance
of over 1.0" to fall across highest peaks and ridgelines.
Additional snowfall will be light, although along the spine of
the Sawtooths and Salmon River Mountains another 12+" is
possible.

By Sunday, a strong ridge builds over the West, leading to high
confidence in a sharp warming trend starting Monday. There is a
55% chance of reaching 70 degrees for highs across the Snake
Plain by Tuesday, and at least a 45% chance of reaching 80
degrees south and west of Blackfoot by Wednesday and Thursday.
Daily record highs will likely be challenged starting Tuesday.

&&

.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/...
Issued at 1133 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026

Wind, wind, and more wind. Sounds like a broken record, but the wind
remains the biggest impact to aviation once again today and even
more so tomorrow. We are already seeing gusts of 25-35 kts at DIJ
and IDA and expect PIH, BYI, and SUN to join in with those gusts
sooner rather than later as we approach the early afternoon hours.
As the cold front blows through on Saturday, we are expecting some
precipitation at most of our sites. Temperatures look warm enough to
be all rain on Saturday, but can't rule out some -RASN at DIJ and
SUN where temperatures will be just above 32 degrees. Lower clouds
will move through with the front and precipitation, but the NBM only
shows a 20 to 30 percent chance of MVFR CIGs so will go with SCT
clouds at/near MVFR. The NBM also shows a 20 to 30 percent chance of
MVFR VIS at DIJ, so will hold off on really tanking them for now,
but we do seem a bit more likely to have MVFR conditions there. The
other bit of a wild card will be blowing dust on Saturday. There is
a 60 to 90 percent chance of gusts greater than 48 kts at BYI, PIH,
and IDA on Saturday so we expect to see some blowing dust around IDA
and PIH once again, though impacts of BLDU were minimal on Thursday.
There is a 30 to 50 percent chance of gusts greater than 48 kts at
DIJ and SUN on Saturday.

&&

.PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
Wind Advisory until 9 PM MDT this evening for IDZ052>054-065.

&&

DISCUSSION...DMH/Keyes
AVIATION...AMM

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
1018 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0200 PM     Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 2 NNE Rockford          43.20N 112.53W
03/12/2026                   Bingham            ID   Public

            Image on social media of roof blown off
            chicken coop and report of fences blown over
            at farm. Time estimated based on peak gusts
            at Blackfoot ARL site and Tilden Flats ITD
            site.

&&

AM