Strong cold front brought damaging winds to north central Idaho during the early afternoon hours. In Idaho County, Sheriff reported roof damage and phone lines downed in Cottonwood.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 MSO wrote it up.
Strong cold front brought damaging winds to north central Idaho during the early afternoon hours. In Idaho County, Sheriff reported roof damage and phone lines downed in Cottonwood. Tree limbs were broken in Grangeville where wind gusts to 56 mph were reported by automated weather station at the airport. In Lemhi County, RAWS station reported wind gusts to 60 mph.
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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 16, 11:45 AM MST, 43 minutes earlier.
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION...COR
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
1145 AM MST MON DEC 16 2002
.SHORT TERM...WILL BE MAKING UPDATES TO THE ZONES THIS MORNING.
WILL UPDATE IDZ7-8 TO EXTEND THE WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 21Z. FRONT
JUST NOW BEGINNING TO MOVE THROUGH WESTERN IDAHO. WINDS AT
GRANGEVILLE ARE GUSTING TO 15-20 MPH. WINDS IN ERN OREGON ARE
SUSTAINED 15-30 GUSTING TO THE MID 40S. THESE WINDS RESULTING FROM
SOME DECENT MIXING BEHIND THE FRONT WILL AFFECT THE CAMAS PRAIRIE
UNTIL 20-21Z UNTIL THE FRONT PASSES THROUGH ENTIRELY...HENCE THE
UPDATE OF THE WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 21Z. WILL ALSO DECREASE POPS FROM
CATEGORICAL TO LIKELY POPS THIS AM IN NW MONT. SATELLITE INDICATES
WARMING CLOUD TOPS AND RADAR INDICATES A SLIGHT DECREASE IN AREAL
COVERAGE OF PCPN IN NW MT AN THE ID PANHANDLE. TEMPS LOOK ON TRACK.
RPN
.LONG TERM...MODELS ALL OVER THE BOARD IN THEIR HANDLING OF THE NEXT
ORGANIZED PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEM...AND IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO
DETERMINE A LIKELY WINNER. EURO IS THE FASTEST AS IT IS SOMEWHAT
RELUCTANT TO DEVELOP A FULLY CLOSED LOW. GFS IS ON THE OTHER END
OF THE SPECTRUM...CLOSING THE LOW AND GREATLY SLOWING THE
PROGRESSION FROM 12Z WEDNESDAY TO 12Z SATURDAY. UK IS SOMEWHERE IN
BETWEEN. THE RESULT IS THAT BY FRIDAY MORNING THE EURO HAS US IN
SOUTHWEST FLOW AHEAD OF A TROUGH...THE GFS HAS NORTHWEST FLOW OVER
US WITH A CLOSED LOW OFF CALIFORNIA...AND THE UK HAS A HIGH
AMPLITUDE RIDGE EXTENDING THE LENGTH OF THE ROCKIES. CURRENT
FORECAST TREND IS TO HAVE A DRIER PERIOD WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO
THURSDAY...THEN CHANCE POPS THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED. WILL
STAY WITH THIS SOLUTION AS EVEN THE QUICKER EURO PUSHES A BRIEF
RIDGE OVER THE AREA EARLY IN THE EXTENDED. HOWEVER...IF SUCCEEDING
MODEL RUNS TREND TOWARD EURO...WILL HAVE TO RAISE PRECIP CHANCES
THURSDAY. WHITMORE
.MSO...WIND ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR THE CAMAS PRAIRIE...THE LOWER
HELLS CANYON AND SALMON RIVER REGION THROUGH THIS
AFTERNOON.
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB WEE /043 029/037 024/033 3664344
BEEE 021/026 023/029 023/027 020/028 020/ 34222333333
FCA WEE /041 028/036 022/032 3654344
BEEE 021/027 022/030 021/028 019/029 019/ 34312233333
POL CEE /043 030/035 027/032 3643443
BEEE 025/029 024/032 023/030 021/031 021/ 34322233333
MSO CWE /043 029/038 023/032 3634643
BEEE 021/030 025/033 027/031 022/031 022/ 34321233333
HMM CWE /046 028/039 024/035 3635632
BEEE 020/030 031/042 033/036 022/030 022/ 34321233333
BTM CEE /042 020/032 011/026 3622333
EEEE 010/026 018/028 014/026 010/023 010/ 34322333433
ORO EEE /053 036/043 031/039 3646542
BEEE 029/038 035/043 035/041 028/036 028/ 34102223322
GRV CWE /054 035/038 028/034 3646543
BEEE 024/035 031/043 032/041 028/032 028/ 34102333322
SMN EEE /046 023/031 016/027 3624433
EEEE 015/024 016/027 014/025 010/025 010/ 34102333333MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-171300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 806 AM MST MON DEC 16 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO .DAY ONE... TODAY STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP ON THE CAMAS PRAIRIE...AND LOWER HELLS CANYON AND SALMON RIVER REGIONS. SEE LATEST WIND ADVISORY (GTFNPWMSO) FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. A MOIST WEATHER SYSTEM WITH STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. .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 high wind, 1 strong wind. 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: 5324163, 5324109.