Avalanche in Idaho, March 12, 2002

Name: Avalanche in Idaho, March 12, 2002
Start: 2002-03-12T15:00
End: 2002-03-12T15:30
Location: Idaho

March 12, 2002 · NWS PIH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A 16 year old snowmobiler was killed in an avalanche in the Big Hole Mountains near Victor. An overhang broke free and swept him into a stand of trees.

The toll

Deaths: 1
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.

A 16 year old snowmobiler was killed in an avalanche in the Big Hole Mountains near Victor. An overhang broke free and swept him into a stand of trees.

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 Mar 12, 2:20 PM MST, 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 2:20 PM MST, 40 minutes before

SOUTHEAST IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS ID
220 PM MST TUE MAR 12 2002

SAT LOOPS SHOW MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH H3 JET CONTINUES TO SAG SOUTH
OUT THRU SRN ID.  AREA RADAR MOSAIC SHOWS SCATTERED -SHRA AND -SHSN
OVER THE SRN HALF OF ID...WITH SFC FRONT ALONG A MOU TO LLJ LINE.
TEMPS BEHIND THE FRONT GRADUALLY FALL THROUGH THE EARLY PART OF
WED...WITH SNOW LEVELS REACHING THE VALLEY FLOORS LATE TONIGHT.
BEHIND THE FRONT COLD AND UNSTABLE AIR...850 TO 500 LAPSE RATES
GREATER THAN 7...MOVES OVER ID AS A TROF GETS CARVED INTO THE SWRN
CONUS.  JET RUNS NEARLY N TO S ALONG THE WEST COAST WED THRU FRIDAY
WITH POTENT S/W ENERGY IN BC.  AVN PUSHES A NEG TILT TROF...STRONG
VORT MAX AND PLENTY OF H7 OMEGA INTO THE CNTRL ID MTNS BY LATE FRI AND
MOVING INTO THE REST OF THE CWA FRI NIGHT/EARLY SAT AM.  WITH COLD AND
UNSTABLE AIR IN PLACE AND PLENTY OF MOISTURE TO WORK WITH...SITUATION
LOOKS SOMEWHAT IMPRESSIVE AT THIS TIME.

DAY 4 TO DAY 7...PATTERN REMAINS UNSETTLED WITH AS THE JET DIGS INTO
CNTRL OR AND NRN NV BY SUNDAY MORNING...WITH SFC LOW MOVING ACROSS THE
SOUTHERN PART OF ID.  A MOIST NW FLOW REMAINS IN PLACE MOIST NW THRU
THE EARLY NEXT WEEK SO WILL GO WITH A BROAD BRUSH APPROACH.

BRONG

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

BYI 29/40/20/41 4222

.PIH...NONE.

PIH EE 028/038 019/038 020 15522

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 12, 1:08 PM MST, 1 hour 52 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS, ID
108 PM MST TUE MAR 12 2002

TIME(MST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1000 AM    22 NE HAILEY              ID   SNOW
03/12/02   CUSTER                         BEAR CANYON SNOTEL 6.5
                                          INCHES AT 7903 FEET

0700 AM    17 WSW KETCHUM            ID   SNOW
03/12/02   BLAINE                         DOLLARHIDE SNOTEL 11.1
                                          INCHES AT 8421 FEET

1000 AM    22 NW KETCHUM             ID   SNOW
03/12/02   BLAINE                         GALENA SUMMIT SNOTEL 7.0
                                          INCHES AT 8782 FEET

0700 AM    10 NW KETCHUM             ID   SNOW
03/12/02   BLAINE                         LOST WOOD DIVIDE SNOTEL
                                          12.0 INCHES AT 7903 FEET

1000 AM    11 ENE KETCHUM            ID   SNOW
03/12/02   BLAINE                         HYNDMAN SNOTEL 6.5 INCHES
                                          AT 7440 FEET

1000 AM    21 ENE HAILEY             ID   SNOW
03/12/02   BLAINE                         SWEDE PEAK SNOTEL 6.5
                                          INCHES AT 7641 FEET

1000 AM    23 NW KETCHUM             ID   SNOW
03/12/02   BLAINE                         VIENNA MINE SNOTEL 15.8
                                          INCHES AT 8963 FEET

Event by event

1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.

Avalanche, Upper Snake Highlands

When: March 12, 3:00 PM MST to 3:30 PM MST
Where: Upper Snake Highlands forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NWS EMPLOYEE(OFF DUTY)

What these are

Avalanche: A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.

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, March 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: 5281707.