Idaho, 2011

Dust Storm in Idaho, November 14, 2011

November 14, 2011 · NWS PIH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Interstate 15 closed between Idaho Falls and Roberts and mileposts 119 to 135 due to strong winds. The winds caused visibilities to drop to zero.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS PIH wrote it up.

Interstate 15 closed between Idaho Falls and Roberts and mileposts 119 to 135 due to strong winds. The winds caused visibilities to drop to zero. The interstate closed at 11:27 AM.

What forecasters said that day

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 Nov 13, 2:27 PM MST, 21 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 13, 2:27 PM MST, 21 hours before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Event by event

1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Dust Storm, Upper Snake River Plain

When
November 14, 11:27 AM MST to 6:00 PM MST
Where
Upper Snake River Plain forecast zone
Reported by
Department of Highways

Interstate 15 closed between Idaho Falls and Roberts and mileposts 119 to 135 due to strong winds. The winds caused visibilities to drop to zero. The interstate closed at 11:27 AM.

What these are

Dust Storm
Blowing dust that reduced visibility to a quarter mile or less.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Idaho in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, November 2011

Sources

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: 354178.