Heavy Snow, Northern Panhandle
- When
- November 16, 11:00 PM PST to November 17, 4:30 AM PST
- Where
- Northern Panhandle forecast zone
- Reported by
- Trained Spotter
- Coordinates
- 48.247, -116.588 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Idaho, November 16 to 17, 2011
A warm front moved across the northern Idaho Panhandle from the southwest through the late afternoon and evening hours on November 16th. This front acted to moisten the atmosphere ahead of a cold front that moved into the area during the overnight hours on the sixteenth.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
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 OTX wrote it up.
A warm front moved across the northern Idaho Panhandle from the southwest through the late afternoon and evening hours on November 16th. This front acted to moisten the atmosphere ahead of a cold front that moved into the area during the overnight hours on the sixteenth. Heaviest snowfall occurred out ahead and along the cold front with up to five to seven inches of new snowfall within a five hour span that stretched into the early morning hours of November 17th.
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 Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 16, 9:54 PM PST, 1 hour 6 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 16, 9:54 PM PST, 1 hour 6 minutes 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>Hazardous weather outlook, Nov 16, 6:13 AM PST, 16 hours 47 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 613 AM PST WED NOV 16 2011 IDZ001-004-WAZ037-042-171500- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS- NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES- 613 AM PST WED NOV 16 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON AND NORTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE LIKELY TODAY AND TONIGHT OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF THE INLAND NORTHWEST. THE EAST SLOPES OF THE CASCADES WILL LIKELY RECEIVE 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW...INCLUDING THE LEAVENWORTH...PLAIN...TWISP...AND MAZAMA AREAS. PLACES LIKE SANDPOINT... BONNERS FERRY...AND COLVILLE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO RECEIVE 3 TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW. THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO WILL LIKELY RECEIVE 6 TO 10 INCHES...AND THE HIGH ELEVATIONS OF THE CASCADE CREST WILL LIKELY RECEIVE OVER A FOOT OF NEW SNOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY MORE ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY...FOLLOWED BY SHARPLY COLDER TEMPERATURES FOR THE WEEKEND. IDZ002-003-026-027-WAZ031>036-038-041-043-044-171500- COEUR D'ALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE-LEWISTON AREA- LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES-NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS- LOWER GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES-WASHINGTON PALOUSE- MOSES LAKE AREA-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-SPOKANE AREA- OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS-WENATCHEE AREA-OKANOGAN VALLEY- WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 613 AM PST WED NOV 16 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO...CENTRAL WASHINGTON...EAST CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IN THE 2 TO 4 INCH RANGE WILL BE COMMON BY THIS EVENING FROM WENATCHEE...TO OMAK...TO GRAND COULEE...TO SPOKANE. AN INCH OR TWO IS EXPECTED AROUND MOSES LAKE...RITZVILLE...AND PULLMAN. WINDY CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT AND INTO THURSDAY MORNING WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 45 MPH POSSIBLE OVER THE EXPOSED TERRAIN OF THE PALOUSE...NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS...AND AROUND POMEROY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY ANOTHER ROUND OF SNOW IS EXPECTED ON FRIDAY WITH LIGHT TO MODERATE ACCUMULATIONS IN THE SPOKANE...PULLMAN...MOSES LAKE...WENATCHEE... AND LEWISTON AREAS. SHARPLY COLDER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes in South Carolina, November 16, 2011
- Tornadoes and Hail in North Carolina, November 16, 2011
- Tornadoes and Hail in Georgia, November 16, 2011
- Tornadoes in Mississippi, November 16, 2011
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Alabama, November 16, 2011
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Virginia, November 16, 2011
- Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Georgia, November 16, 2011
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, November 16, 2011
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Georgia, November 16, 2011
- Damaging Winds in Alabama, November 16, 2011
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, November 16, 2011
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, November 16, 2011
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 351093.