The Salmon River Road was closed by snow slides. Heavy snow loads and rain caused numerous slides between Pine Creek Bridge and the mouth of Panther Creek.
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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.
The Salmon River Road was closed by snow slides. Heavy snow loads and rain caused numerous slides between Pine Creek Bridge and the mouth of Panther Creek.
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 Jan 26, 2:48 PM MST, 9 hours 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 248 PM MST WED JAN 26 2011 .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL PERSIST OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. RESIDUAL VALLEY MOISTURE AND INCREASING RIDGETOP TEMPERATURES WILL ALLOW FOG AND LOW STRATUS TO CONTINUE OR REDEVELOP AFTER SUNSET TONIGHT. SOME MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS MOVING WITHIN THE FLOW AROUND THE RIDGE WILL SUPPRESS SOME OF THE FOG AND STRATUS DEVELOPMENT. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF UNCERTAINTY REGARDING FOG VERSUS STRATUS AT ANY PARTICULARLY LOCATION...HOWEVER ANY FOG AND STRATUS WILL LIKELY BE DENSE. EITHER WAY...FOG AND STRATUS WILL HAVE AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON AREA TRAVEL. ROADS MAY BECOME SUDDENLY VERY ICY WITHIN THE EPISODIC FOG. ALSO...SOME MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTHWEST MONTANA DURING TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...BRINGING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW. THE MOUNTAINS AND LOW ELEVATIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO WILL REMAIN VERY WARM DURING THIS TIME...HOWEVER VALLEY INVERSIONS...FOG...STRATUS...AND HAZE WILL DOMINATE THE VALLEYS OF WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MONTANA. A BIT OF A BREAK FROM THE STRATUS AND FOG IS ANTICIPATED BEGINNING LATE THURSDAY NIGHT...WHEN THE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE STARTS TO BREAK DOWN AHEAD OF A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM. A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE ONTO THE WASHINGTON COAST FRIDAY...CAUSING THE FLOW OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES TO TURN MORE WESTERLY. THIS TYPE OF FLOW PATTERN MIXED WITH WARMER AIR MOVING INTO THE REGION WILL LIKELY LEAD TO A SMALL WARM UP BEFORE THE WEEKEND. THE MAIN PART OF THE TROUGH AND FORCING WILL DIG INTO THE GREAT BASIN SUNDAY NIGHT LEAVING THE NORTHERN ROCKIES IN AN AREA OF DIFLUENT FLOW. THIS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS AND VALLEY RAIN ON SATURDAY WITH A CHANGEOVER TO SNOW EARLY SUNDAY AS COLDER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGION. SNOW RATIOS WILL REMAIN RATHER LOW THROUGH THE WEEKEND MINIMIZING SNOW ACCUMULATIONS. THE ECMWF HAS BEEN MORE ROBUST IN BRINGING IN COLDER AIR OVER THE DIVIDE AND INTO WESTERN MONTANA ON SUNDAY BUT HAS BACKED OFF ON THIS SOLUTION IN ITS LATEST RUN WHICH PUTS IT IN LINE WITH THE GFS AND CANADIAN MODELS. CONSIDERING THE UNCERTAINTY FORECAST FORECAST HAS REMAINED IN LINE WITH THE GFS. ALL MODELS ADVERTISE A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING IN FOR THE MIDDLE PART OF NEXT WEEK WHICH WILL KEEP THE CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION LOW. && .AVIATION... LOW STRATUS AND FOG WILL IMPACT AIR TRAVEL AROUND THE NORTHERN ROCKIES DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION AND RESIDUAL VALLEY MOISTURE WILL KEEP EPISODIC FOG AND LOW STRATUS AROUND AREA TERMINALS. IN PARTICULARLY...FOG IS ANTICIPATED TO REDEVELOP NEAR KMSO...KGPI...AND KSMN SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET TONIGHT...AND PERSIST THROUGH MIDDAY THURSDAY. SOME FOG WILL DISSIPATE DURING MIDDAY THURSDAY...WHILE THE REMAINDER WILL TRANSITION TO LOW STRATUS. EITHER WAY...AVIATION WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED AT TIMES. && .MSO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MT...NONE. ID...NONE. && SHORT TERM...ZUMPFE LONG TERM....LOEFFELBEIN AVIATION...ZUMPFE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
Road crews reported that one of the avalanches blocked nearly a quarter mile section of the road near Halfway Gulch with snow 10 feet deep on the downhill side of the road.
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: 276671.