Winter storm brought heavy snow to the Clearwater Mountains of north central Idaho the last two days of December. Snotel sitesrecorded 7 to 8 inches above 4000 feet.
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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.
Winter storm brought heavy snow to the Clearwater Mountains of north central Idaho the last two days of December. Snotel sitesrecorded 7 to 8 inches above 4000 feet.
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 30, 9:10 AM MST, 50 minutes earlier.
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
910 AM MST MON DEC 30 2002
.SHORT TERM...UPDATES TO ZONES AND WILL CORRECT STATE. FIRST WAVE OF
A MOIST PAC SYSTEM MOVING ACROSS THE CWA THIS MORNING. SOME LIGHT
SNOW REPORTED ACROSS THE NORTHWEST...BUT HEAVIER SNOWFALL IN THE
CLEARWATER MOUNTAINS. UPSTREAM RADARS ARE QUITE ACTIVE AND
IMPRESSIVE HOURLY PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS ACROSS NORTHEAST OR. SNOW
LEVELS STARTING OUT AS LOW AS 1500 FEET ACROSS ID. WILL BOOST
PROBABILITIES TO CATEGORICAL ACROSS ID ZONES TODAY AND TONIGHT...
WHICH WILL FIT BETTER WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES. QPF AMOUNTS FIT
INTO WARNING CRITERIA FOR IDZ005-006 AND MTZ004-006 LATER TONIGHT
WHICH ARE MY INITIAL IDEAS FOR UPGRADES TO THE CURRENT WATCH.
AIRMASS REMAINS FAIRLY DRY ACROSS WESTERN MT WITH SOME LOW-LEVEL
EASTERLY FLOW CONTRIBUTING TO DOWNSLOPE. A FAIRLY STRONG COLD FRONT
MOVES ACROSS THE REGION LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY. WILL INCREASE
WIND SPEEDS FOR CAMAS PRAIRIE WHEN H85 WINDS REACH 30KT AND H7 ABOUT
60KT ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE. MOUNTAIN SNOW WILL SPREAD
ACROSS OTHER NORTHWEST MT ZONES AS THE FRONT MOVES ACROSS EARLY
TUESDAY BUT AMOUNTS DO NOT LOOK AS IMPRESSIVE AND SHOULD BE
SHORTLIVED COMPARED TO UPSTREAM LOCATIONS. BOLDT
.LONG TERM...PROGRESSIVE WET PATTERN CONTINUES OVER THE AREA THROUGH
THE EXTENDED PERIOD. WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS GOING AND HOLD HIGH
TEMPERATURES IN MOST LOCATIONS IN THE 30S...WARM ENOUGH TO KEEP RAIN
OR SNOW IN THE FORECAST. GILCHRIST
.MSO...WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY FOR MTZ001>004-006-
043 AND IDZ005>008
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB SSE /031 025/030 020/032 4066622
RREE 023/035 024/037 026/037 024/037 024/ 33455544533
FCA ESE /030 023/029 023/032 4056622
EEEE 026/035 029/037 028/037 029/037 029/ 33345543433
POL ESE /032 027/030 023/033 4056623
REEE 027/036 030/038 029/038 030/038 030/ 33354543533
MSO ESE /031 024/031 025/033 4036622
EREE 026/036 029/038 027/038 029/038 028/ 33344543533
HMM ESE /033 026/030 024/034 4036621
EEEE 027/037 030/039 028/039 030/039 029/ 33234543333
BTM EEE /033 018/033 012/028 4023411
EEEE 014/033 017/035 017/033 015/035 017/ 33223442332
ORO ORE /043 034/041 029/040 4096623
EEEE 035/044 036/045 036/045 036/046 036/ 33445444522
GRV SSE /037 031/036 025/036 4076623
EEEE 031/040 032/041 032/041 032/042 032/ 33345444533
SMN ESE /030 016/028 012/025 4035522
EEEE 015/028 018/032 018/030 014/032 016/ 33234433332MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-311300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 600 AM MST MON DEC 30 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO .DAY ONE... TODAY A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY FOR NORTHWEST MONTANA AND CENTRAL IDAHO. A STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL MAKE ITS WAY INTO CENTRAL IDAHO AND NORTHWESTERN MONTANA TODAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE AREAS OF HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY WINDS...MAKING FOR BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. PLEASE SEE WINTER STORM WATCH...GTFWSWMSO...FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE WINTER STORM MENTIONED ABOVE FOR MONDAY WILL LAST THROUGH TUESDAY...WHEN SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TAPERING OFF AS THE DISTURBANCE MOVES EAST. HEAVY SNOWS ARE POSSIBLE IN NORTHWEST MONTANA AND IN CENTRAL IDAHO THROUGH TUESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .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: 5324180.