Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 24 to 25, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 24 to 25, 2003
Start: 2003-12-24T09:00
End: 2003-12-25T04:00
Location: Idaho

December 24 to 25, 2003 · NWS BOI · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A pacific cold front passed through Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho during the morning of 24 December 2003 with heavy snow across the Camas Prairie and Boise Mountains of Idaho.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 BOI wrote it up.

A pacific cold front passed through Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho during the morning of 24 December 2003 with heavy snow across the Camas Prairie and Boise Mountains of Idaho.

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 Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 24, 3:45 AM MST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 24, 3:45 AM MST, 5 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE IDAHO
345 AM MST WED DEC 24 2003

.SHORT TERM...FOR SOUTHEAST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST IDAHO TODAY THROUGH
FRIDAY.  A PACIFIC COLD FRONT WAS MOVING ONSHORE EARLY THIS
MORNING.  THE FRONT HAS GOOD JET SUPPORT...700 MB WARM ADVECTION
AHEAD OF IT...AND HAS PRECIPITABLE WATER ABOUT TWICE NORMAL. THE FRONT
IS HEADING EAST.  REGIONAL RADAR AT 2 AM MST SHOWED THE LEADING EDGE
OF THE PRECIPITATION BEGINNING TO MOVE INTO HARNEY COUNTY OREGON...
OUR WESTERN-MOST ZONE.  I EXPECT THIS PRECIPITATION TO INTENSIFY AND
SPREAD ACROSS OUR AREA TODAY AND THIS EVENING.  THE COLD FRONT WILL
REACH THE BOISE AREA LATER THIS EVENING.  BEHIND THE FRONT COOL
UNSTABLE AIR WILL PROVIDE A GOOD ENVIRONMENT FOR SCATTERED SNOW
SHOWERS INTO EARLY FRIDAY.  BY LATE FRIDAY SOME RIDGING ALOFT WILL
DRY OUT THE AIR MASS.  THE SNOW ADVISORY FOR OUR NORTHERN ZONES FROM
10 AM TO 10 PM STILL SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA AND IT WILL BE
CONTINUED.  THE PLACEMENT OF THE JET AND THE WARM ADVECTION FIELD
AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM ARE RATHER IMPRESSIVE. CONFIDENCE IS RUNNING
HIGH FOR SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW FOR THE MOUNTAINS TODAY AND TONIGHT.
THOSE SCATTERED SHOWERS FOR CHRISTMAS DAY MIGHT BE ENOUGH FOR A
WHITE CHRISTMAS FOR MANY OF THE LOWER VALLEYS.  TEMPERATURES WILL BE
ABOUT 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL TODAY...NEAR NORMAL ON THURSDAY THEN A
FEW DEGREES BELOW NORMAL ON FRIDAY.

.LONG TERM...MODELS AGREE THAT OUR CWFA WILL STAY UNDER A
PROGRESSIVE FLOW PATTERN NEAR OR JUST WEST OF A LONGWAVE TROUGH
POSITION WITH BELOW NORMAL HEIGHTS AND PREDOMINANTLY NORTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT. FOR US THIS TRANSLATES TO RELATIVELY DRY FOR MOST OF OUR
LOWER VALLEYS ALONG WITH TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL. RUN TO
RUN THE MRF CONTINUES INCONSISTENT WITH SHORTWAVE TIMING AND IS
CLOSE TO 180 DEGREES OUT OF PHASE BUT COMING INTO CLOSER AGREEMENT
ON THE FINAL DAY...WEDNESDAY...WITH A SHORTWAVE TROUGH SLIDING
ACROSS OUR ZONES. ALTHOUGH CONFIDENCE IS LOW WE ARE FAVORING THE
MOST RECENT MRF FOR WANT OF A BETTER SOLUTION. THIS WOULD GIVE LOW
POPS SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY WITH WEAK SYSTEMS TENDING TO SPLIT AND
NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AS MENTIONED ABOVE. SIGNS OF A MORE
CONSOLIDATED WEST NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TUESDAY AND THE SHORTWAVE
TROUGH WEDNESDAY SUPPORT SOMEWHAT HIGHER POPS FOR THOSE LAST TWO
DAYS.

&&

.BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
.ID...SNOW ADVISORY FROM 10 AM MST TODAY THROUGH 10 PM MST THIS EVENING
       FOR THE BOISE AND WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. (ID ZNS 11/13).
.OR...NONE.

&&

SHORT TERM...TE
LONG TERM....JT

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 24, 6:00 AM MST, 3 hours before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID
6 AM MST WED DEC 24 2003

IDZ012-014>016-028>030-ORZ061>064-251200-
BAKER COUNTY-CAMAS PRAIRIE-HARNEY COUNTY-LOWER TREASURE VALLEY-
MALHEUR COUNTY-OWYHEE MOUNTAINS-SOUTHERN TWIN FALLS COUNTY-
SOUTHWEST HIGHLANDS-UPPER TREASURE VALLEY-WESTERN MAGIC VALLEY-
6 AM MST (5 AM PST) WED DEC 24 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWEST IDAHO AND SOUTHEAST
OREGON.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

IDZ011-013-251200-
BOISE MOUNTAINS-WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-
6 AM MST WED DEC 24 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL IDAHO.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

...SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TO 10 PM MST...

A VIGOROUS PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA
TODAY WITH SNOWFALL IN THE RANGE OF 3 TO 6 INCHES LIKELY ACROSS
THE ADVISORY AREA....SEE THE LATEST...BOIWSWBOI OR WWUS45 KBOI
FOR DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY 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 radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Boise Mountains

When: December 24, 9:00 AM MST to December 25, 4:00 AM MST
Where: Boise Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.602, -115.335 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Camas Prairie

When: December 24, 12:00 PM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where: Camas Prairie forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.409, -115.137 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Idaho, December 2003

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: 5328822, 5328823.