Early spring storm brought heavy snow to north central Idaho. In the northern Clearwater Mountains snowfall ranged from 18 inches at Cool Creek and Hemlocke Butte to 30 inches at Shanghai Summit.
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.
Early spring storm brought heavy snow to north central Idaho. In the northern Clearwater Mountains snowfall ranged from 18 inches at Cool Creek and Hemlocke Butte to 30 inches at Shanghai Summit. In the southern Clearwater Mountains snowfall ranged from 5 to 8 inches at the lower elevations up to one foot over the mountains.
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 Mar 18, 9:07 AM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
830 AM MST MON MAR 18 2002
.SHORT TERM...WILL UPDATE ZFP/SFP THIS MORNING. A SHORT-WAVE TROUGH
AND SURFACE LOW OVER THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF THE CWA PROVIDING
DECENT LIFT IN A AREA WHERE LAPSE RATES ARE STILL FAVORABLE FOR
SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. PREVIOUS MODELS RUNNING A LITTLE SLOW WITH
THE TIMING OF A VIGOROUS SHORT-WAVE TROUGH CURRENTLY APPROACHING
WASHINGTON. FORECAST NEEDS TO BE SPED UP AND WILL INCREASE CLOUDS AND
POPS ACROSS THE NORTH BASED ON SATELLITE AND RADAR. NEW MESOETA STILL
DOES NOT SEEM KEEP UP WITH THE OVERALL SPEED OF SYSTEM. DYNAMICS
COMING TOGETHER WITH GOOD LIFT FROM ONE JET CORE EXITING AND ANOTHER
PUNCHING INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. IN ADDITION...A WEAKNESS IN THE
SURFACE PRESSURE FIELD LIES ACROSS THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA
PROVIDING WEAK CONVERGENCE. BETTER MOISTURE BECOMING AVAILABLE BY
AFTERNOON AND WILL WILL INCREASE THE POPS TO LIKELY IN THE EXTREME
NORTHWEST CORNER MTZ001-004 BY LATE AFTERNOON...AS WELL INCREASE
POPS TO CHANCE CATEGORY IN THE IDZ005-007-MTZ002-003.
WILL NOT CHANGE WSW FROM WATCH YET...AND WILL WAIT UNTIL THIS
AFTERNOON WITH THE BENEFIT OF UPDATED MODELS.
MSJ
.MSO...WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY IDZ005>008
AND MTZ001>006-043...
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB CSS /031 020/031 019/027 3966887
EEOO 018/034 014/038 020/040 022/040 024/ 39520035553
FCA ESS /027 018/029 016/025 3936788
EEOO 016/032 012/034 020/040 022/040 024/ 39520035553
POL ESS /029 021/031 020/029 3936788
EEOO 019/034 018/039 024/042 023/039 026/ 39520035553
MSO ESS /030 022/035 025/034 3926776
EEOO 018/034 016/037 022/042 022/042 024/ 39520035454
HMM ESS /033 024/038 027/035 3916666
EECC 020/036 018/040 023/044 023/044 025/ 39420024444
BTM ECS /027 014/034 019/030 3913566
EBCC 010/033 007/036 015/040 019/040 021/ 39431014333
ORO COR /043 031/046 035/044 3937775
EERR 033/046 034/049 036/053 036/052 038/ 39520135554
GRV COO /037 028/040 030/039 3917775
EERO 029/041 028/045 033/050 033/048 035/ 39520135544
SMN CCO /034 022/041 028/039 3914553
EBCE 023/040 020/043 023/045 027/043 029/ 39320024434The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 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, March 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: 5281855, 5281856.