Extreme cold temperatures caused several schools to close on December 10th in the Upper Snake Highlands and Caribou 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.
Extreme cold temperatures caused several schools to close on December 10th in the Upper Snake Highlands and Caribou 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 9, 2:10 PM MST, 10 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 210 PM MST WED DEC 9 2009 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. SATELLITE SHOWS CLEARING STARTING TO TAKE PLACE OVER THE REGION. UPPER LEVEL FLOW CONTINUES OUT OF THE NORTHWEST AND THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND. AS A RESULT...EXPECT SNOW SHOWERS TO REMAIN POSSIBLE OVER THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS TONIGHT DUE TO UPSLOPE FLOW. ALSO EXPECT LOW STRATUS TO REDEVELOP OVER THE SNAKE PLAIN LATER TONIGHT AS TEMPS PLUMMET AND THE MOISTURE IS FORCED TO CONDENSE. WINDS WILL STAY UP TONIGHT...SO NOT EXPECTING MUCH FOG. ALSO...WILL CONTINUE THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE CARIBOU HIGHLANDS DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW THIS EVENING. WILL CANCEL ELSEWHERE SINCE WEB CAMS ARENT SHOWING MUCH. THE WINDS WILL CREATE ANOTHER PROBLEM AND THAT BEING WIND CHILLS IN THE UPPER SNAKE VALLEY...EASTERN HIGHLANDS DOWN TO BEAR LAKE. WIND CHILL VALUES COULD FALL TO BETWEEN -20 AND -30 IN THESE AREAS BEFORE THE WINDS DIMINISH LATE TONIGHT. THEN...TRADE OFF VERY COLD WIND CHILLS FOR VERY COLD TEMPERATURES. VERY COLD WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH THE SHORT TERM AS ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS IN CONTROL. ALTHOUGH...SHOULD SEE DRIER WEATHER DUE TO THE HIGH PRESSURE. .LONG TERM...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. MODELS REMAIN IN GENERAL AGREEMENT THROUGH THE PERIOD. ZONAL FLOW IN PLACE FOR THE WEEKEND WITH PACIFIC ENERGY BRINGING WET CONDITIONS BACK TO EASTERN IDAHO. WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL PRODUCE OVERRUNNING PERIODS OF SNOW OVER THE WEEKEND BEFORE THE MAIN LOW MOVES BY THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING. HAVE INCREASE POPS TO REFLECT THIS. WITH SLIGHTLY WARMER AIR DUE TO PACIFIC OCEAN ORIGINATION...HAVE KEPT PACE WITH IDEA OF MODERATED TEMPERATURES. EXCELLENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN GFS ECMWF AND ENSEMBLES WITH RIDGE TRYING TO BUILD INTO WESTERN STATES BY MONDAY THOUGH MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW LIGHT PRECIP ACCUMULATIONS WITH WEAK EMBEDDED STORM SYSTEMS MOVING THROUGH THE AREA IN NORTHWEST FLOW. HAVE LEFT POPS AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW CLIMO FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...HOWEVER NEED TO WATCH FOR INVERSIONS SETTING UP AS LARGE SCALE RIDGE DEVELOPS. PRESTON/DMH && .AVIATION...UPPER SYSTEM CONTINUES TO ENHANCE AREAS OF MVFR TO IFR CONDITIONS IN UPPER SNAKE VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON AND EXPECT THIS TO CONTINUE UNTIL 00Z. REST OF AREA HAS ISOLATED MVFR WITH MOSTLY VFR CONDITIONS. DUE TO UPSLOPE FLOW OF AIR...EXPECT DECK OF CLOUDS TO REDEVELOP FOR IDA AND PIH LOCATIONS OVERNIGHT WITH DECENT POTENTIAL FOR IFR CONDITIONS BETWEEN 10Z AND 16Z TOMORROW. PRESTON && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL WARNING UNTIL 4 AM MST THURSDAY FOR IDZ019-020-023- 025. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 8 PM MST THIS EVENING FOR IDZ023. &&
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</html>3 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
The Teton County school district number 401 closed schools on December 10th due to extreme cold wind chill values below 30 below zero.
Extreme cold conditions with wind chill temperatures colder than 30 below zero caused schools to close in the Caribou Highlands. Schools closed were; Swan Valley district number 92, Marsh Valley district number 21, Soda Springs district number 190, and North Gem district number 149.
The temperature at the Pocatello Regional Airport dropped to -17 degrees at 5:46 AM on December 10th. This was the coldest temperature recorded at the airport since February 28th, 1993.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, December 2009
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 207632, 207633, 207634.