Heavy Snow in Idaho, February 23 to 24, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in Idaho, February 23 to 24, 2002
Start: 2002-02-23T16:00
End: 2002-02-24T16:00
Location: Idaho

February 23 to 24, 2002 · NWS PIH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Heavy snow fell in the eastern Idaho mountains with 7 inches at Island Park, 8 inches at Macks Inn, and 7 inches at Ashton.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

Heavy snow fell in the eastern Idaho mountains with 7 inches at Island Park, 8 inches at Macks Inn, and 7 inches at Ashton.

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 Feb 23, 2:55 PM MST, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 23, 2:55 PM MST, 1 hour 5 minutes before

SOUTHEAST IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS ID
255 PM MST SAT FEB 23 2002

SURFACE TROUGH HAS ALREADY MOVED THROUGH POCATELLO AND IDAHO FALLS
WITH UPPER TROUGH AXIS TO ENTER WYOMING BY MIDNIGHT.  SLIGHT CHANCE OF
SNAKE RIVER VALLEY WIND CONVERGENCE THIS EVENING BUT VERY SHORT LIVED
SINCE UPPER VORTICITY MAX MOVES EAST OF AREA BY ABOUT 03Z.  MOST
PRECIPITATION TONIGHT SHOULD BE OVER THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS WITH 1 TO
3 INCH ACCUMULATION AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS...DECREASING TO SCATTERED
SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.  SCATTERED SHOWERS ELSEWHERE MOSTLY ENDING BY
MIDNIGHT. RAIN MIXING WITH SNOW ON THE BENCH AREAS FOR AND HOUR OR TWO
THIS EVENING THEN SNOW LEVEL SHOULD DROP QUICKLY TO VALLEY FLOORS.
CONTINUED BREEZY TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.

SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVES SOUTH FROM ALBERTA ON SUNDAY PUSHING BACK DOOR
FRONT INTO EASTERN IDAHO DURING THE DAY SO WILL KEEP A CHANCE OF SNOW
IN THE FORECAST.  BY SUNDAY NIGHT NORTH WINDS PREVAIL BRINGING COLD
AIR TO THE FORECAST AREA HOLDING DAYTIME HIGHS TO THE 20S AND 30S WITH
WITH NIGHTTIME LOWS DIPPING BELOW ZERO IN MANY AREAS...ESPECIALLY
MONDAY NIGHT. PER COORDINATION WITH WFO BOISE...WIND CONVERGENCE
POSSIBLE IN THE MAGIC AND EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY...THEREFORE COULD SEE
SOME CLODS AND FLURRIES.

COLD AIR SHOULD BE DISLODGED TUESDAY WITH SHORT WAVE CROSSING GULF OF
ALASKA TO IDAHO.  WILL KEEP A CHANCE OF SNOW IN FORECAST TUESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY.  SUCCESSIVE SHORT WAVES CONTINUE TO CARVE BROAD TROUGH OVER
LOWER 48 STATES MID TO LATER PART OF THE WEEK.  GOOD AGREEMENT IN
EXTENDED MODELS QUICKLY DROPPING ANOTHER DISTURBANCE INTO NORTHWEST
THURSDAY.  THIS ONE MAY CARVE TROUGH POSITION FURTHER WEST AND COULD
EVEN BE FAR ENOUGH WEST TO MISS FORECAST AREA.  CURRENT MRF INDICATES
SNOW ON THURSDAY WITH ANOTHER WEEK WAVE ON FRIDAY EMBEDDED IN RIDGE.
THEREFORE WILL KEEP FRIDAY AND SATURDAY DRY FOR NOW. SURVICK

KSFX WSR-88D...OPERATIONAL...VCP 21.

BYI 33/40/16/33 4210

.PIH...NONE.

PIH EB 028/035 010/027 002 08431

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Upper Snake Highlands

When: February 23, 4:00 PM MST to February 24, 4:00 PM MST
Where: Upper Snake Highlands forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

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

Every storm in Idaho in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Idaho, February 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: 5283479.