Name: Heavy Snow in Idaho, April 15 to 16, 2002
Start: 2002-04-15T11:00
End: 2002-04-16T13:00
Location: Idaho

The toll

Deaths: 2
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 6

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PIH wrote it up.

One day after thunderstorm winds caused extensive damage in southeast Idaho, a mid-April snowstorm dumped heavy wet snow over the same region. It was the heaviest snow of the season in the Snake River Plain. It ranked as the 8th greatest 24 hour snowfall ever at the Pocatello airport and 3rd greatest April snowfall ever. 9 inches fell at the Pocatello airport by the morning of April 16th. Generally 8 to 12 inches fell in the Pocatello, American Falls, Blackfoot and Chubbuck city areas. Snow was even heavier in Idaho Falls where the city received 12 to 16 inches of snow. 10 inches fell in Moreland, 6 inches in Island Park, 7 inches in Tetonia, 8 inches in Wayan, 10 inches in Rexburg, 7 inches in Rigby, 13 inches in Shelley, 11 inches in Rockland, and 7 inches at Malad and Malta. The storm caused more power outages to 140 customers as downed tree limbs from the heavy wet snow fell into power lines after service was just restored from the previous days thunderstorms. The heavy snow also did extensive damage to the Idaho Falls Tautphaus Zoo collapsing a roof to a cat exhibit. The snow caused a fatal accident on Highway 81 seven miles east of Declo fatally injuring a 32 year woman and her 2 year old son.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Pocatello, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 14, 2:40 PM MST, 20 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 14, 2:40 PM MST, 20 hours 20 minutes before

SOUTHEAST IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS ID
340 PM MDT SUN APR 14 2002

SFC FRONT KICKED OFF THUNDERSTORMS WHICH PRODUCED SUSTAINED WINDS OF
45 TO 65 MPH AND GUSTS FROM 75 TO 100 MPH FROM SOUTHERN BLAINE
COUNTY EASTWARD INTO THE LOWER AND UPPER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN THIS
AFTERNOON.  WINDS AHEAD OF THE SFC FRONT WERE RUNNING SUSTAINED AT
30 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH...AND BEHIND THE SFC FRONT
GENERALLY 30 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH.  VERY WINDY CONDITIONS
WILL CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING AND BEGIN TO DIMINISH AROUND SUNSET.
FOR REST OF FORECAST PACKAGE...ANOTHER REINFORCING SHOT OF COLD AIR
WILL MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA ON MONDAY.  EXPECT WINDS TO AGAIN
REACH AT LEAST ADVISORY CRITERIA AND APPROACH HIGH WIND WARNING.
SCATTERED INSTABILITY SHOWERS WILL ALSO DEVELOP DURING THE DAY.
BACK DOOR COLD FRONT FOR MON NIGHT WILL SWING THROUGH THE EASTERN
HIGHLANDS WITH ANOTHER POTENTIAL SHOT OF PRECIP WHICH WILL CLIP THE
UPPER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN.  OTHERWISE WILL SEE A BRIEF BREAK IN PRECIP
FOR TUE AND THEN DEVELOPING U/A TROF DROPPING OUT OF PAC NW WILL
SLOWLY SWING THROUGH THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION FOR TUE NIGHT THROUGH
THUR PERIOD.  SO WILL REMAIN UNSETTLED WITH MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS
AND THREAT OF PRECIP.  U/A TROF WILL SLOWLY DROP SOUTH AND EAST WITH
RIDGING NOSING IN FROM THE WEST...SO IMPROVING CONDITIONS AND
WARMING TEMPS FOR FRI INTO THE WEEKEND.

DSH

KSFX...OPERATIONAL...VCP 21.

BYI 44/53/29/53 6421

.PIH...A HIGH WIND WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED.  SEE LATEST BULLETIN FOR
DETAILS.

PIH WE 043/052 027/052 028 02642

Event by event

6 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Caribou Highlands

When: April 15, 11:00 AM MST to April 16, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Caribou Highlands forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Eastern Magic Valley

When: April 15, 11:00 AM MST to April 16, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Eastern Magic Valley forecast zone
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Lower Snake River Plain

When: April 15, 11:00 AM MST to April 16, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Lower Snake River Plain forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, South Central Highlands

When: April 15, 11:00 AM MST to April 16, 1:00 PM MST
Where: South Central Highlands forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Upper Snake Highlands

When: April 15, 11:00 AM MST to April 16, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Upper Snake Highlands forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

Heavy Snow, Upper Snake River Plain

When: April 15, 11:00 AM MST to April 16, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Upper Snake River Plain forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heavy Snow, Eastern Magic Valley	2002-04-15	32	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct
Heavy Snow, Eastern Magic Valley	2002-04-15	2	Male	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Idaho in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Idaho, April 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5289674, 5289675, 5289676, 5289677, 5289678, 5289679.