Heavy rain combined with snow melt that caused canals to overflow and lowland areas to flood.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 BOI wrote it up.
Heavy rain combined with snow melt that caused canals to overflow and lowland areas to flood.
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 Jan 16, 9:00 PM MST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 900 PM MST SUN JAN 16 2011 .DISCUSSION...SHOWERS CONTINUE ACROSS THE REGION AS A DECENT MOISTURE FEED CONTINUES OUT INTO THE PACIFIC OFF THE OREGON COAST. THE MODELS ARE TRENDING TOWARD A NARROWING OF THIS MOISTURE TAP OVERNIGHT WITH A GENERAL REDUCTION IN SHOWER COVERAGE. FOG REMAINS A POSSIBILITY IN SOME OF THE VALLEYS...SUCH AS THE LOWER TREASURE VALLEY AND VALLEYS IN BAKER COUNTY. NOT SURE AT THIS TIME WHETHER IT WILL BE DENSE...UNLESS THERE IS ENOUGH CLEARING EARLY MONDAY MORNING. WILL UPDATE FOR PATCHY FOG IN SOME OF THE VALLEYS FOR LATE TONIGHT THRU MONDAY MORNING. SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE THROUGH MONDAY WITH MOST OF THE SHOWERS CONFINED TO THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. && .AVIATION...WIDESPREAD MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION TONIGHT WITH PRECIPITATION DECREASE FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST. LOCATIONS WHERE PRECIPITATION IS STILL OCCURRING CAN EXPECT WIDESPREAD MVFR AND AREAS OF IFR CONDITIONS. AS PRECIPITATION MOVES OUT OF THE AREA CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE TO VFR...BUT SHELTERED VALLEYS AND LOCATIONS WITH LIGHT WINDS COULD SEE A DEVELOPMENT OF IFR/LIFR CONDITIONS IN FOG AND LOW STRATUS. POSSIBLE LOCATIONS WHERE THIS FOG WILL FORM WOULD BE KBKE...KONO AND KMYL. IF FOG FORMS MAY ALSO SPREAD INTO KEUL AND KMAN. && .HYDROLOGY...FLOOD WATCHES CONTINUE FOR THE DONNER UND BLITZEN RIVER NEAR FRENCHGLEN...AS WELL AS THE WEISER RIVER NEAR WEISER. SEE BOIFFABOI...FLOOD WATCH...FOR DETAILS. THE LATEST GAGE READING ON THE DONNER UND BLITZEN WAS AT 4.7 FEET...FLOOD STAGE IS 6 FEET. THE STAGE MAY BE CRESTING AT THIS TIME AND IF IT DOES...AND THEN STARTS TO DROP...WILL CANCEL THE WATCH SINCE THE BULK OF THE STEADIER RAINS HAVE ENDED THUS REDUCING RUNOFF. THE WEISER GAGE AT WEISER HAS SHOWN SOME ERRATIC FLUCTUATIONS BETWEEN 7 AND 8 FEET THE PAST FEW HOURS...DUE TO ICE FLOW. FLOOD STAGE IS 9.5 FEET. RUNOFF WILL CONTINUE IN THE WEISER AND WILL MONITOR GAGES ALONG THE WEISER RIVER. WILL WAIT UNTIL THE RIVER LEVELS START TO FALL BEFORE CANCELLING THE WATCH. THERE HAS BEEN A DRAMATIC RISE AT THE SQUAW CREEK GAGE NEAR SWEET...WHICH IS LOCATED IN GEM COUNTY. THE LATEST READING WAS 8.3 FEET...WITH A FLOOD STAGE OF 10.5 FEET. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THAT GAGE AND MAY NEED TO ISSUE A SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY IF THE READING CONTINUES TO TREND NEAR FLOOD STAGE. IMPACT ALONG SQUAW CREEK WOULD BE PRIMARILY MINOR PASTURE FLOODING. THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN RISES ON OTHER RIVERS/STREAMS...NO OTHER FLOODING CONCERNS ARE ANTICIPATED. && .PREV DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY...A ROUND OF MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED THROUGH MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. THIS IS DUE TO AN UPPER LEVEL JET SINKING SOUTH ACROSS SE OREGON/SW IDAHO AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES THROUGH THIS EVENING. BROAD W TO NW FLOW ALOFT WILL THEN BRING MUCH LIGHTER QPF AMOUNTS IN RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS MAINLY NORTH OF A BOISE TO FAIRFIELD/JEROME IDAHO LINE MONDAY. LOTS OF FORECAST DIFFERENCES TUESDAY WITH A WET GFS AND DRY NAM AND MIDLING ECMWF. WENT WITH GEFS/SREF FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS IN THE BAKER MOUNTAINS...NUMEROUS WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND ISOLATED SOUTH OF THERE TO DRY NEAR THE NV BORDER. PASSING SYSTEM WILL BREAK THE INVERSION LATE TONIGHT FOLLOWED BY GUSTY W TO NW WINDS...LOCALLY VERY WINDY AROUND MOUNTAIN HOME MONDAY. FOR TEMPERATURES DID NOT GO WITH AS MUCH OF A RETURN TO INVERTED CONDITIONS AS THE NAM12 12&18Z INDICATE - MORE OF BLEND. LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...GOOD MODEL AGREEMENT IN TRACKING SHORTWAVE THROUGH THE REGION TUESDAY NIGHT. HAVE INCREASED CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION IN ALL LOCATIONS THOUGH BEST CHANCE REMAINS OVER SW IDAHO MTNS WHICH IS CLOSEST TO THE TRACK OF THE MID-LEVEL CIRCULATION. QPF AMOUNTS ARE LIGHT WITH A TENTH OF AN INCH OR LESS IN VALLEYS AND UP TO A QUARTER INCH IN THE MTNS. SHOULD START AS RAIN OR RAIN/SNOW MIX IN LOWER VALLEYS POSSIBLY ENDING AS SNOW EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...MAKING ROADS ICY AS TEMPERATURES DROP BELOW FREEZING. TEMPERATURES DROP BACK TO NEAR NORMAL FOR WED/THUR WITH DRY CONDITIONS. NEXT CHANCE FOR LIGHT PRECIPITATION IS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY WITH A WEAK SYSTEM ROLLING THROUGH THE RIDGE. FOR THE WEEKEND...ALTHOUGH MODEL AGREEMENT IS GOOD TODAY WITH THE LATEST RUN...FORECASTER CONFIDENCE IS NOT HIGH CONSIDERING THE RUN TO RUN VARIABILITY LATELY WHICH APPEARS TO BE AGGRAVATED BY AN UNCERTAINTY IN POSITION OF THE OFFSHORE HIGH. AS OF NOW...THE PATTERN THAT WILL DOMINATE THIS WEEK LOOKS TO HOLD ON THROUGH THE WEEKEND WITH THE HIGH WELL OFFSHORE AND NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT ALLOWING BRIEF PERIODS OF UNSETTLED WEATHER TO ROLL BY ALONG PRIMARILY THE NORTHERN ZONES. BROUGHT TEMPERATURES DOWN A BIT FOR THIS PERIOD TO ONLY SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL. && .BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...NONE. OR...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/BOISE DISCUSSION...BW AVIATION.....JA HYDROLOGY....BW PREV SHORT TERM...VM PREV LONG TERM....DG/BB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 511 AM MST SUN JAN 16 2011 ORZ061-171215- HARNEY COUNTY- 411 AM PST SUN JAN 16 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST OREGON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BOISE HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WATCH FOR THE DONNER UND BLITZEN RIVER NEAR FRENCHGLEN. FLOODING IS POSSIBLE AS THE RESULT OF PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS OF OVER AN INCH WHICH HAS FALLEN OVER THE STEENS MOUNTAIN IN THE PAST 12 HOURS PLUS ANOTHER 6 TENTHS OF AN INCH EXPECTED UP TO MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO WARM WITH FREEZING LEVELS RISING ABOVE 9000 FEET BY THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT HAZARDOUS WEATHER ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. IDZ011>016-028>030-033-ORZ062>064-171215- WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-LOWER TREASURE VALLEY ID-BOISE MOUNTAINS- UPPER TREASURE VALLEY-SOUTHWEST HIGHLANDS-WESTERN MAGIC VALLEY- CAMAS PRAIRIE-OWYHEE MOUNTAINS-SOUTHERN TWIN FALLS COUNTY- UPPER WEISER RIVER-BAKER COUNTY-MALHEUR COUNTY- LOWER TREASURE VALLEY OR- 511 AM MST SUN JAN 16 2011 /411 AM PST SUN JAN 16 2011/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL IDAHO...SOUTHWEST IDAHO...WEST CENTRAL IDAHO...NORTHEAST OREGON AND SOUTHEAST OREGON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID
1015 PM MST SUN JAN 16 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1013 PM HEAVY RAIN 5 NW GARDEN VALLEY 44.15N 116.01W
01/16/2011 M2.00 INCH BOISE ID TRAINED SPOTTER
1.26 INCHES SINCE 8 AM MST THIS MORNING. TOTAL OF ALMOST
2 INCHES SINCE RAIN BEGAN SATURDAY EVENING.
&&
BWThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor flooding was reported in Glenns Ferry by the Elmore County Sheriff's Department dispatch. A portion of a railway line was washed out and four homes were evacuated.
The North Side Canal overflowed around the intersection of Tiger Drive and 16th Avenue East on Monday the 17th. City workers cleared mud and debris from streets and some homes and basements were flooded.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, January 2011
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: 279702, 279701.