Another in a series of Pacific storms the last week of December brought heavy snow to the Central Mountains and Upper Snake and South Central Highlands. Whiteout conditions occurred in the Snake River Plain with road closures in the South Central Highlands.
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 PIH wrote it up.
Another in a series of Pacific storms the last week of December brought heavy snow to the Central Mountains and Upper Snake and South Central Highlands. Whiteout conditions occurred in the Snake River Plain with road closures in the South Central Highlands.
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 Dec 27, 2:00 PM MST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 200 PM MST SAT DEC 27 2008 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. SEEMINGLY ENDLESS STREAM OF PACIFIC MOISTURE IS POURING INTO THE REGION. ZONAL FLOW HAS SET UP AND WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH TUESDAY. STRONG JET CORE OF GREATER THAN 115KT ALONG WITH UPSLOPE FLOW WILL BE THE MAIN CONTRIBUTORS TO SNOWFALL DURING THIS TIME. UNLIKE THE PAST WEEK OR SO...THERE ARE NO STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS TO BE DEALT WITH. AMOUNTS LOOK PRETTY IMPRESSIVE FOR PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS NEAR STANLEY AND ESPECIALLY WEST FACING SLOPES. THESE LOCATIONS COULD SEE 8 TO 12 INCHES ALONG WITH GUSTY CONDITIONS BY 00Z MONDAY. LOCATIONS NEAR ISLAND PARK SHOULD SEE AT LEAST 6 INCHES ALONG WITH GUSTY CONDITIONS AS WELL. THESE AREAS ARE IN A WINTER STORM WARNING AND WILL REMAIN IN THAT WARNING THROUGH SUNDAY. ELSEWHERE...AMOUNTS DO NOT LOOK NEARLY AS IMPRESSIVE. GENERALLY IN THE 1 TO 3 INCH RANGE. WARMER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AND CONTINUING INTO MONDAY AS A SHORTWAVE RIDGE SLIDES THROUGH THE AREA. A LULL IS EXPECTED SUNDAY NIGHT BUT ANOTHER BIG PUSH OF MOISTURE IS EXPECTED FOR MONDAY AND WINTER STORM WARNINGS WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED FOR THOSE SAME AREAS THAT CURRENTLY HAVE WARNINGS AS AMOUNTS LOOK VERY IMPRESSIVE IN THOSE AREAS ONCE AGAIN. TEMPERATURES IN MANY LOCATIONS WILL BE NEARING THE MELTING POINT SUNDAY AND WILL LIKELY WARM PAST IT ON MONDAY BEFORE A COLD FRONT BLOWS THROUGH THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT. MODELS ARE SUGGESTING A GOOD BREAK IN THE ACTION DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY. WAS EVEN TEMPTED TO REMOVE CHANCES FOR SNOW ENTIRELY...BUT GIVEN SOME MODEL INCONSISTENCY DECIDED TO LEAVE SOME LOW CHANCES IN FOR NOW. DNV .LONG TERM...TUE NIGHT THROUGH NEXT SAT NIGHT. LONG WAVE PATTERN INDICATES POLAR VORTEX OVER NORTH CENTRAL CANADA IN RETROGRADE MOTION AND APPROACHING THE ALASKA-CANADA BORDER BY END OF PERIOD. VERY LITTLE CHANGE IN THE MAIN STORM TRACK...WHICH CONTINUES OVER IDAHO FOR THE ENTIRE PERIOD. THE RETROGRADE MOVEMENT MEANS THAT THE COLD CORE IS CLOSER TO THE WESTERN STATES AND WOULD FAVOR COLDER TEMPERATURES. HOWEVER...THE AIRFLOW CHANGES FROM NORTHWESTERLY TO WESTERLY WHICH WOULD FAVOR WARMER AIR MOVING IN FROM THE PACIFIC...SO COMBINED EFFECTS OFFSET EACH OTHER. THIS IS SEEN IN THE GUIDANCE WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES REMAINING IN THE UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S FOR POCATELLO FOR THE ENTIRE PERIOD...AND LOWS DIPPING INTO THE TEENS ONLY WHEN CLOUD COVER IS LESS AT NIGHT. ADDING IN THE SHORTWAVES...WED NIGHT/THU/THU NIGHT APPEARS TO BE BEST CHANCE OF SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION DURING THE MEDIUM RANGE PERIOD. TIMING IS VERY SIMILAR WHEN COMPARING GFS TO ECMWF...ONLY THE INTENSITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TROUGH IS DIFFERENT. ECMWF HAS A MUCH WEAKER TROUGH. BY FRI...MUCH LARGER DIFFERENCES EXIST. ECMWF HAS QUITE A RIDGE DEVELOP IN RESPONSE TO AN EASTERN PACIFIC LOW DEVELOPING AND DEEPENING. THIS LOW LIFTS TO THE SOUTHEAST AND MISSES SOUTHERN IDAHO. GFS HAS A WEAKER...LOWER AMPLITUDE LOW THAT FOLLOWS A MORE SOUTHERLY TRACK WHICH MEANS IT CROSSES OVER ALL OF THE GEM STATE ON FRI NIGHT/SAT. SO WILL BIAS FOR LOWER POPS FOR THIS LATTER STORM OR GO CLIMATOLOGY...WHICH EVER IS HIGHER. MESSICK && .AVIATION...SNOW SHOWERS ALREADY DEVELOPING AND WILL WREAK HAVOC WITH CIG AND VSBY FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON. ABUNDANT MOISTURE STILL EXPECTED TO MOVE IN AND CREATE CEILING AND VSBY PROBLEMS THAT GUIDANCE IS ALREADY NOT REALLY CAPTURING VERY WELL. LACK OF UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS HAS LEFT GUIDANCE A BIT MORE OPTIMISTIC THAN IT SHOULD BE. HAVE FORECASTED MUCH MORE IFR THAN CURRENTLY PRESENT IN ANY OF THE GUIDANCE. WIND ALSO APPEARS UNDER FORECAST IN THE NAM AND HAVE GONE WINDIER THAN EXPECTED THERE AS WELL. MESSICK && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 5 PM MST SUNDAY FOR IDZ018-019-031. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 435 AM MST SAT DEC 27 2008 IDZ017>025-031-032-281145- EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY-SAWTOOTH MOUNTAINS-UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS- UPPER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN-LOWER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN- SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS-CARIBOU HIGHLANDS- CACHE VALLEY/IDAHO PORTION-WASATCH MOUNTAINS/IDAHO PORTION- BIG AND LITTLE WOOD RIVER REGION-LOST RIVER/PAHSIMEROI- 435 AM MST SAT DEC 27 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN IDAHO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL RETURN TO EASTERN IDAHO DURING THE DAY. WINDS WILL BEGIN TI PICK UP LATER TODAY AND CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT. SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES WILL AFFECT THE MOUNTAINS BY EVENING. THE HEAVIEST SNOW FALL WILL BE IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS. ELSEWHERE...LIGHT SNOW IS FORECAST LITTLE OR NO ACCUMULATION. A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND WIND HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS ABOVE 6000 FEET. PLEASE SEE WSWPIH FOR MORE INFORMATION. THIS IS IN EFFECT FROM 5PM TODAY THROUGH 5PM SUNDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A PROLONGED SNOW EVENT IS EXPECTED FOR THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW AND WIND WILL CREATE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS ESPECIALLY ABOVE 6000 FEET. ONCE AGAIN...THE MOST SNOWFALL WILL OCCUR IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS. A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR PORTIONS OF THESE AREAS HAVE BEEN ISSUED AND ARE IN EFFECT UNTIL 5PM SUNDAY. IT IS VERY LIKELY THAT THESE WARNINGS WILL NEED TO BE EXTENDED THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. PLEASE WSWPIH FOR MORE INFORMATION. SNOW TOTALS THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE WARNED AREAS WILL BE IN THE 5 TO 10 INCH RANGE. FOR OTHER MOUNTAINOUS AREAS...INCLUDING THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN VALLEYS...SNOW TOTALS FOR THIS TIME WILL BE 2 TO 5 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. SNOW FALL WILL BE LIGHT FOR THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN WITH UP TO 2 INCHES POSSIBLE MAINLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN PART OF THE MAGIC VALLEY. IF YOU INCLUDE SNOWFALL THAT IS FORECAST THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON...SNOW TOTALS IN THE WARNING AREA ARE FORECAST TO BE IN THE 15 TO 24 INCH RANGE. FOR OTHER MOUNTAINOUS AREAS...INCLUDING THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN VALLEYS...4 TO 9 INCH TOTALS ARE POSSIBLE. FOR THE SNAKE PLAIN...1 TO 4 INCHES IS ANTICIPATED WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS IN THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE MAGIC VALLEY. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO WARM SOME THROUGH THIS TIMEFRAME. HOWEVER...REACHING THE FREEZING MARK AND ABOVE WILL PROVE TOUGH EXCEPT FOR THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE MAGIC VALLEY AND VALLEYS OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS. IN THESE AREAS...SNOW IS FORECAST AT NIGHT WITH A MIX OR COMPLETE CHANGEOVER TO RAIN DURING THE DAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WE ASK TRAINED SPOTTERS AND CITIZENS TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS WHEN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO. THESE CONDITIONS MAY INCLUDE HAIL...TORNADOES...STRONG WIND...DUST STORMS...SNOWFALL... EXTREME COLD TEMPERATURES...FREEZING RAIN OR HEAVY RAIN...DENSE FOG...AND FLOODING OR ICE JAMS. INFORMATION ABOUT THESE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS SHOULD BE CALLED INTO YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN POCATELLO USING THE 1-800 SEVERE WEATHER HOTLINE...OR 208-233-0834.
3 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Twelve inches of snow fell at the Lost Wood Divide SNOTEL site. Other heavy SNOTEL amounts were: 13 inches at Dollarhide, 10 inches at Galena Summit, 14 inches at Galena Lodge, 17 inches at Vienna Mine, and 9 inches at Bald Mountain.
US Highway 20 closed from Ashton to the Montana state line on the 29th. 14 inches of snow reported by a spotter in Island Park. Snow amounts at SNOTEL sites were 10 inches at Island Park, 9 inches at White Elephant, and 12 inches at Black Bear.
State Highway 37 closed due to heavy snow and high winds from mile post 37.4 to mile post 68.7. 13 inches of snow fell at the Howell Canyon SNOTEL with 12 inches at the Bostetter Ranger Station.
Drifting snow and strong winds caused interstate 86 east bound to be closed east of American Falls. The winds caused whiteout conditions near American Falls.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, December 2008
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: 146529, 146531, 146532, 146530.