Extensive damage and warning level winds occurred with the passage of a cold front the evening of March 10th. Two trees were downed into a house in Burley.
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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 PIH wrote it up.
Extensive damage and warning level winds occurred with the passage of a cold front the evening of March 10th. Two trees were downed into a house in Burley. Several trees downed at Burley parks and golf course. Power lines were downed south of Rupert along Idaho route 24. Much of Minidoka County had power outages causing a black out for nearly 2 hours. The city of Rupert had a complete power outage. Power was restored to many areas by 8 pm. A roof was blown off a building in American Falls into power lines with power outages in the city. The winds caused a power outage in Bear Lake County on the west side of the valley.
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 Mar 10, 2:00 PM MST, 4 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 200 PM MST THU MAR 10 2011 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. WINDS WILL BE INCREASING AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW OVER THE EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY AND THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN ARE PROVIDING FOR SOME WARMER THAN NORMAL EARLY EVENING TEMPERATURES...BUT STRONG GAP WINDS WILL OCCUR THROUGH MID EVENING. AM FAVORING THE REGIONAL ARW MODEL AS IT DEPICTS THE HIGHEST WINDSPEEDS THROUGHOUT THE EVENT. STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE AS THE COLD FRONT PASSES THROUGH AND WINDS SHIFT TO THE SOUTHWEST. FRONT SHOULD PASS AROUND 06Z TONIGHT WITH WINDS TAPERING OFF BY 15Z. INCLUDED MENTION OF ISOLATED THUNDER BASED ON INSTABILITY INDICATED IN NAM BUFR SOUNDINGS ACROSS THE AREA WITH ELEVATED CAPES NEAR 500 J/KG. SNOW AMOUNTS SEEM LESS OF A CONCERN TONIGHT AND TOMORROW DUE TO THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE OF THE STORM. A WEAKER SYSTEM IS SET TO MOVE THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LATER ON SATURDAY. THIS SHOULD BRING CHANCES OF VALLEY RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW TO SOTUHERN IDAHO. HINSBERGER .LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH NEXT THURSDAY. GFS/ECMWF SHOW SOME BROAD SIMILARITIES THIS AFTERNOON BUT CONTINUE TO DIFFER IN DETAILS. BOTH MODELS SHOWING A WEAK DISTURBANCE CLIPPING MAINLY THE NRN/CNTRL MOUNTAINS SUNDAY AND HAVE THUS TRIMMED PCPN POTENTIAL BACK ACROSS THE SOUTH. A STRONGER WAVE FOLLOWS MONDAY WITH A GREATER POTENTIAL FOR PCPN ACROSS THE REGION...PARTICULARLY THE CNTRL/NRN MOUNTAINS...THUS HAVE MAINTAINED STRONG CHANCE/LIKELY MENTION FAVORING THE NORTH. THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...THE MODELS SHOW DIFFERENCES IN THE TIMING AND PLACEMENT OF THE STORM TRACK TAKING SHAPE ACROSS THE NW STATES AND ITS EVENTUAL PROGRESSION INLAND. THUS HAVE GENERALLY MAINTAINED A CHANCE MENTION OF PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE AREA WITH A LIKELY MENTION FAVORING NRN/CNTRL MOUNTAINS WHERE THE MODELS SHOW BEST AGREEMENT. STATISTICAL GUIDANCE SHOWING MUCH WARMER SPRING-LIKE TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT THE REGION AND THUS HAVE BUMPED TEMPS HIGHER. HUSTON && .AVIATION...LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWING A PAC TROUGH PROGRESSING INLAND WITH MID-LEVEL CIGS OVERSPREADING FORECAST AREA. MODELS INDICATE THAT ASSOCIATED SURFACE FRONT WILL SWEEP THROUGH REGION BETWEEN 1900-2300 MST THIS EVENING WITH ATTENDING MOISTURE DRIVING CIGS INTO LOW VFR REGION WITH TEMPORARY MVFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE IN CONVECTIVE SHOWERS. STRONG WEST WINDS WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY FRONT THROUGH REGION AND CONTINUE THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE NIGHT WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH. IMPROVING CONDITIONS WILL FOLLOW AFTER MIDNIGHT AS A DRIER AIR MASS FILTERS INTO THE REGION. HUSTON && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WIND ADVISORY FOR IDZ017-021-022. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 223 PM MST THU MAR 10 2011 IDZ017>025-031-032-112145- 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- 223 AM MST THU MAR 10 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN IDAHO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. LOOK FOR STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS AHEAD OF THE FRONT THEN SWITCHING FROM THE SOUTHWEST BEHIND THE FRONT. LOOK FOR WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING. EXPECT 3 TO 7 INCHES OF SNOW ABOVE 6500 FT FOR THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND 2 TO 6 INCHES FOR THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS. A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT ACROSS THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN...SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS AND EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE LOWER SNAKE PLAIN...SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS AND EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY THROUGH MID MORNING. A SERIES OF DISTURBANCES WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE WEEKEND THROUGH WEDNESDAY. ADDITIONAL LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW ACCUMULATION ACROSS HIGHER TERRAIN IS EXPECTED. .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.
The Pocatello radar (KSFX), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:00 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Extensive damage and warning level winds occurred with the passage of a cold front the evening of March 10th. Two trees were downed into a house in Burley. Several trees down at Burley parks and golf course.
Extensive damage and warning level winds occurred with the passage of a cold front the evening of March 10th. Power lines were downed south of Rupert along Idaho route 24. Much of Minidoka County had power outages causing a black out for nearly 2 hours. The city of Rupert had a complete power outage. Power was restored to many areas by 8 pm.
Extensive damage and warning level winds occurred with the passage of a cold front the evening of March 10th. A roof was blown off a building in American Falls into power lines with power outages in the city for up to an hour. Wind speeds of 78 mph were measured in American Falls. The winds also downed some power lines.
Sixty-two mph wind gust recorded at Pocatello Regional Airport.
Police dispatchers reported a deck blown over a house in the city of Chubbuck.
Sixty-one mph wind gust recorded 5 miles north of Portneuf.
Winds of 66 mph were measured at Montpelier with power outages in the western side of the valley in Bear Lake County due to strong winds blowing down power lines.
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, March 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: 293930, 293932, 293933, 293934, 293937, 293935, 293941.