Heavy snow fell over the mountains of the northern Idaho panhandle, generally above 4000 feet. 9".
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
Heavy snow fell over the mountains of the northern Idaho panhandle, generally above 4000 feet. Snowfall totals include: Schweitzer Bowl SNOTEL...20", Hidden Lake SNOTEL...19", Bear Mountain SNOTEL...14", and the Mosquito Ridge SNOTEL...9".
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 Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 12, 2:30 PM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WASHINGTON 230 PM PST THU DEC 12 2002 .SYNOPSIS...THE WET PATTERN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. A SERIES OF STORMS WILL BRING RAIN TO THE VALLEYS AND SNOW TO THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN ELEVATIONS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. .TONIGHT-SUNDAY...WARM AIR HAS INFILTRATED THE INLAND NORTHWEST ALLOWING TEMPERATURES TO RISE INTO THE 40S AND LOWER 50S IN MANY LOCATIONS. FREEZING LEVELS HAVE RISEN TO BETWEEN 5000 AND 6000 FEET. A COLD FRONT IS MOVING THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS THE CASCADES LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE REMAINDER OF EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO THIS EVENING. WITH THE WARM TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION PRECIPITATION SHOULD BE MOSTLY IN THE FORM OF RAIN. EXCEPTIONS WILL BE ACROSS THE NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS AND THE IDAHO PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT WHERE MODERATE UPSLOPE WINDS WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ABOVE 4000 AND 5000 FEET. THEREFORE...WILL ISSUE A HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THOSE AREAS FOR TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. THERE WILL BE A SHORT LIVED BREAK ON FRIDAY WITH SOME CLEARING...BUT ALSO A FEW LINGERING SHOWERS. ANOTHER STRONG WARM FRONT MOVES UP FROM THE SOUTH INTO EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. THIS WILL ONCE AGAIN RAISE SNOW LEVELS AND BRING WARM AIR TO THE REGION PRODUCING RAIN ACROSS MOST AREAS. IN ADDITION...BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED. THIS PATTERN THEN CONTINUES THROUGH SUNDAY FOR A WARM AND WET WEEKEND. CC .MONDAY-THURSDAY...AS PER LATEST GFS SIGNIFICANT SURFACE LOW POSITIONING ITSELF NEAR SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA RESULTING IN A DECENT ENOUGH NORTH TO SOUTH PRESSURE GRADIENT TO ALLOW WINDY WORDING FOR THE SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING TIME PERIOD...FOR BREVITY JUST PUT WINDY WORDING IN EVERYWHERE ON MONDAY. AFTER THAT THE MOIST WEST OR SOUTHWEST FLOW NEVER REALLY SHUTS OFF ENOUGH TO PULL OUT ANY PRECIPITATION WORDING SO KEEP FAIRLY SIMILAR WARMER THAN AVERAGE OVERNIGHT LOWS AND DAYTIME HIGHS WITH THE HIGHEST POPS OVER THE NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON AND PARTS OF THE NORTHERN IDAHO PANHANDLE EACH DAY. ...THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRODUCT CONCERNING WARNINGS AND FORECASTS IS VALID ONLY AT THE TIME OF ISSUANCE. THE LATEST WARNING AND FORECAST INFORMATION WILL BE FOUND IN THE APPROPRIATE PRODUCTS... GEG 035/040/037/046/038/040 859955 COE 036/040/037/042/038/040 959955 PUW 038/043/039/048/038/041 858955 LWS 040/048/045/051/041/046 878956 CQV 037/042/037/046/039/041 +49965 SPT 035/038/034/047/037/040 +59965 WWP 036/038/035/041/036/039 +59965 EAT 035/039/036/052/035/042 738955 MWH 037/043/038/053/037/045 748945 OMK 033/038/035/050/034/039 93+955 .OTX...HEAVY SNOW WARNING ID ZONE 1, 4 AND WA ZONE 37 TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.
IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-131430- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 300 PM PST THU DEC 12 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO .DAY ONE... TODAY A HEAVY SNOW WARNING CONTINUES THIS MORNING OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO ABOVE 5000 FEET. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 2 TO 4 INCHES. THE PRECIPITATION WILL TAPER OFF TO SPOTTY SHOWERS BY MIDDAY. SEE THE LATEST HEAVY SNOW WARNING (WWUS46 KOTX WSWOTX) FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A COUPLE OF STRONG PACIFIC STORMS WILL AFFECT THE INLAND NORTHWEST BETWEEN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. EACH STORM WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING 40-50 MPH WIND GUSTS IN THE MOUNTAINS. ALTHOUGH SNOW LEVELS WILL BE TOO HIGH FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW ON SATURDAY...COOLER AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUNDAY SYSTEM COULD RESULT IN 6-12 INCHES OF SNOW OVER THE NORTHERN CASCADES ABOVE 4000 FEET. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, December 2002
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: 5327349.