Idaho, 2008

Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 24 to 25, 2008

December 24 to 25, 2008 · NWS BOI · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

A winter storm blanketed much of Southwest Idaho with six to fifteen inches of snow over the Christmas holiday period from the 24th to the 25th of December.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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
4

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 winter storm blanketed much of Southwest Idaho with six to fifteen inches of snow over the Christmas holiday period from the 24th to the 25th of December.

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, 10:00 AM MST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 24, 10:00 AM MST, 2 hours before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 24, 6:06 AM MST, 5 hours 54 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Boise Mountains

When
December 24, 12:00 PM 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)

Ten to fifteen inches of snow fell in the valleys while up to two feet of snow fell in some of the higher mountain locations.

Heavy Snow, Boise Mountains

When
December 24, 12:00 PM MST to 10:00 PM MST
Where
Boise Mountains forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
43.602, -115.335 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Seven to ten inches of snow fell in the valleys including nine inches at McCall while ten to fifteen inches was recorded by the SNOTEL sites.

Heavy Snow, Camas Prairie

When
December 24, 2:00 PM MST to December 25, 6:00 AM MST
Where
Camas Prairie forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
43.409, -115.137 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Up to fourteen inches of snow fell around Fairfield and on the Camas Prairie closing U.S. Highway 20 from Mountain Home to Fairfield and State Highway 46 from Fairfield to Gooding. Blowing and drifting snow created significant difficulties on area roads.

Heavy Snow, Southern Twin Falls County

When
December 24, 6:00 PM MST to December 25, 10:00 AM MST
Where
Southern Twin Falls County forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
42.356, -114.667 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A trained spotter near Hollister reported about eight inches of snow with significant blowing and drifting causing hazardous conditions on U.S. Highway 93.

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

More

Every storm in Idaho in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, December 2008

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 148056, 148058, 148055, 148059.