Heavy rain combined with snowmelt resulting in a flood event on the Malheur River on the 17th and 18th.
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 snowmelt resulting in a flood event on the Malheur River on the 17th and 18th.
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 17, 10:45 AM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 1045 AM MST MON JAN 17 2011 .DISCUSSION...NO FLOOD HEADLINES ARE OUT. GAGED SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS ARE STILL RUNNING HIGH BUT HAVE CRESTED. ICE JAMMING IS GIVING SOME FLUCTUATING OR UNREPRESENTATIVE READINGS PER GROUND TRUTH. RIVERS AND STREAMS WILL RESPOND TO THE DRY WEATHER AND BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES THE NEXT FEW NIGHTS BY CONTINUING TO A SLOW FALL WITH A DIURNAL CYCLE. WINDS HAVE COME UP TO 10-15 MPH EVEN IN SHELTERED OREGON LOWER TREASURE VALLEY SO MILD TEMPERATURES WITH FILTERED SUNSHINE WILL MAKE IT MUCH WARMER THERE THAN SINCE MID DECEMBER /42 ON THE 14TH/. WINDS ARE STILL EXPECTED TO REACH ADVISORY CRITERIA THROUGH THE MAGIC VALLEY SO THE ADVISORY WILL REMAIN IN PLACE...MOUNTAIN HOME EASTWARD WILL ALSO NUDGE 30-40MPH WEST WINDS THIS AFTERNOON. FINALLY TODAY ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL PERSIST FROM LOWER CLOUDS IN THE WEST CENTRAL AND BOISE MOUNTAINS. && .AVIATION...ANY IFR TODAY WILL BE LIMITED TO SW IDAHO MTNS IN THE VICINITY OF WIDELY SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. LOWER VALLEYS ARE VFR WITH SCATTERED CUMULUS AND GUSTY WINDS. STRONGEST WINDS ARE IN SNAKE RIVER VALLEY EAST OF KMUO WITH GUSTS TO 35 KTS. VALLEYS WILL SEE AREAS IFR IN FOG DEVELOP BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. && .PREV DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY...MAJOR PRECIPITATION EVENT HAS ENDED OVER THE FORECAST AREA WITH CLEARING SKIES AND CONTINUED MILD TEMPERATURES IN ITS WAKE. ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HAS ALLOWED AREAS OF FOG TO DEVELOP IN THE LOWER VALLEYS. EXPECT THE FOG TO LAST ONLY A BRIEF PERIOD THIS MORNING WITH GUSTY WINDS MOVING INTO THE REGION LATER THIS MORNING. THESE INCREASING SURFACE WINDS IN RESPONSE TO A STRONG UPPER LEVEL JET MOVING SOUTHEAST WHICH WILL ALLOW GOOD MIXING TO THE SURFACE. HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL BE A CHALLENGE WITH THE MILD JANUARY AIR MASS STILL IN PLACE AND A LOT MORE SUNSHINE AND WIND THAN SUNDAY...WHEN SOME AREAS REALIZED RECORD HIGH TEMPS UNDER HEAVY CLOUD COVER AND WIDESPREAD RAIN. A DRY SLOT WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS AHEAD OF A SHORT WAVE MOVING RAPIDLY SOUTHEAST FROM B.C. ON TUESDAY. THIS FEATURE WILL SPREAD SLIGHTLY COLDER AIR INTO THE AREA AS THE UPPER FLOW BUCKLES WHILE KEEPING THE HIGH AMPLITUDE UPPER RIDGE AXIS OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC. TUESDAY WILL START OFF WITH SOME SUNSHINE BUT CLOUDS AND SHOWERS WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST BY AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES TUESDAY WILL BE 4 TO 8 DEGREES COOLER THAN MONDAY. LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...EXCELLENT MODEL AGREEMENT CONTINUES IN TRACKING THE TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT SHORTWAVE THROUGH THE REGION. THE BEST CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION REMAINS OVER THE SW IDAHO MTNS WHICH IS CLOSEST TO THE TRACK OF THE CENTER OF CIRCULATION. QPF AMOUNTS ARE MUCH LIGHTER THIS TIME DUE TO A DIFFERENT SOURCE REGION AND TRAJECTORY. AMOUNTS SHOULD BE ABOUT A TENTH OF AN INCH OR LESS IN THE VALLEYS AND UP TO A QUARTER INCH IN THE MTNS. TEMPERATURE STRUCTURE WITH THIS WAVE LOOKS A LITTLE CHALLENGING FOR PRECIP TYPE WITH A RAIN SNOW MIX IN THE VALLEYS AND SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE EVENT IN THE VALLEYS WEDNESDAY MORNING MAY END UP WITH A BRIEF PERIOD OF SNOW DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE. THE HIGH AMPLITUDE UPPER RIDGE THEN BUILDS ALONG THE WEST COAST WITH A DRY AND COLDER REGIME FOR WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR SEASONAL VALUES. ANOTHER DISTURBANCE APPROACHES THE REGION LATE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO THE WEEKEND FOR WHAT APPEARS TO BE MORE UNSETTLED WEATHER WITH LIGHT AMOUNTS OF RAIN AND SNOW AND SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THE COLDEST AIR OVER NORTH AMERICA CONTINUES TO SLIDE INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS AND GREAT LAKES DURING THE PERIOD. && .BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 5 PM MST THIS AFTERNOON IDZ016. OR...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/BOISE DISCUSSION...VM AVIATION.....DG PREV SHORT TERM...GS PREV LONG TERM....GS/DD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 720 AM MST MON JAN 17 2011 IDZ011>016-028>030-033-ORZ061>064-181430- 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-HARNEY COUNTY-BAKER COUNTY-MALHEUR COUNTY- LOWER TREASURE VALLEY OR- 720 AM MST MON JAN 17 2011 /620 AM PST MON JAN 17 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...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous roads from Harper and Westfall to Vale and Ontario were flooded when the Malheur River rose above flood stage and crested at 12.5 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, 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: 279686.