A strong Pacific low pressure system moved into the northern Rockies with abundant moisture. This system was accompanied by a strong cold front, which pushed through the area over the weekend.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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.
A strong Pacific low pressure system moved into the northern Rockies with abundant moisture. This system was accompanied by a strong cold front, which pushed through the area over the weekend. Initially lower elevations started out with a rain snow mix, then transitioned to snow as the the front moved through the area. Snow fall totals in the valley locations ranged between four and eight inches, while the higher terrain received up to a foot of new snow.
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 28, 12:46 PM PST, 6 hours 14 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter in Weippe reported seven inches of new snow accumulations. Pierce reported a storm total snow of five inches. Higher terrain in the area received up to nine inches of new snow.
A storm spotter in Dixie reported nine inches of new snow fall in twenty four hours. A spotter seven miles southeast of Grangeville also reported nine inches of new snow.
The Idaho Department of Transportation closed Highway 28 south of Leadore due to snow and blowing snow severely reducing visibility. Total snow fall amounts ranged from two to four inches in the lower elevations and eight to ten inches over the higher terrain.
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, March 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: 161685, 161686, 161689.