Interstate 15 between the cities of Idaho Falls and Roberts was closed for more than 24 hours due to blowing dust caused by strong winds. It was closed from January 18th around noon through January 19th at 5:30 PM.
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.
Interstate 15 between the cities of Idaho Falls and Roberts was closed for more than 24 hours due to blowing dust caused by strong winds. It was closed from January 18th around noon through January 19th at 5:30 PM.
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 Jan 18, 3:05 AM MST, 8 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 305 AM MST WED JAN 18 2012 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY. A MOIST PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM PROVIDED SOME SNOWFALL ACROSS THE CNTRL MOUNTAINS OVERNIGHT AND WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD INLAND ACROSS SE IDAHO TODAY AND CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. THE WARM OVERRUNNING PATTERN WILL MAKE FOR A CHALLENGING EVENT IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WHERE SNOW LEVELS WILL GRADUALLY RISE THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST PERIOD. AS SNOW LEVELS RISE...THE THREAT FOR HEAVY SNOW IN THE MAGIC VALLEY AND LOWER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS WILL DIMINISH SIGNIFICANTLY. THUS HAVE ADJUSTED HIGHLIGHTS IN THOSE AREAS TO MATCH CURRENT THINKING WHICH HAS WARMER AIR MIXING INTO THOSE REGIONS THURSDAY MORNING. WITH RISING SNOW LEVELS...MAY ALSO SEE A FEW POCKETS OF FREEZING RAIN IN THE UPPER VALLEY SOMETIME LATE TONIGHT OR THURSDAY MORNING. STRONG ADVISORY LEVEL WINDS WILL ALSO IMPACT THE VALLEY REGIONS THROUGHOUT A GOOD PORTION OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...THAT IN COMBINATION WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR THE FREEZING RAIN WAS THE ONLY THING THAT KEPT ME FROM PULLING THE PLUG ON THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY WITHIN THE SNAKE PLAIN. REMAINING MOUNTAIN ZONES SHOULD SEE A SOLID WARNING EVENT OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT THREE DAYS WITH UPWARDS OF 2 TO 4 FEET IN THE CENTRAL AND ERN MOUNTAINS...1 TO 2 FEET IN THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS...AND 4 TO 12 INCHES IN THE BENCH AREA NORTH OF BURLEY. THE REMAINDER OF THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN WILL LIKELY SEE 1 TO 3 INCHES TOTAL. HUSTON .LONG TERM...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. MODELS ARE CONSISTENT WITH A LOW PRESSURE DISTURBANCE TRAVERSING SOUTHERN IDAHO FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING. BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF SUGGEST UP TO A QUARTER INCH OF PRECIPITATION IN THE EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY AREA. HOWEVER...SNOW LEVELS RISE TO ABOUT 5500 FEET MSL PERHAPS AS FAR UP THE SNAKE PLAIN AS NEELEY THEN PRECIPITATION BECOMES A MIX. BY SUNDAY THE ONSHORE WESTERLY FLOW TAKES ON A SPLIT FLOW INTO THE INTER MOUNTAIN WEST. THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN AMPLITUDE OF DISTURBANCES EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW AND THIS AFFECTS HOW MUCH WARMING OR COOLING AND SNOW LEVELS. DESPITE THE DIFFERENCES IN AMPLITUDE...THERE IS CONSISTENCY IN TIMING OF THE NEXT DISTURBANCE CROSSING SOUTHEAST IDAHO MONDAY AFTERNOON. RS && .AVIATION...SOUTHWEST WINDS IN THE SNAKE PLAIN INCREASING TO 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS IN THE ARCO DESERT ARA CURRENTLY IN THE LOWER 40 MPH RANGE. WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN STRONG THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. STILL WATCHING FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A CONVERGENCE BAND AND HEAVY SNOW TO DEVELOP JUST WEST OF KBYI LATE THIS MORNING AND ADVANCE INTO THE TERMINAL AREA BY 18Z. AT KSUN SNOW AND MVFR CEILINGS SHOULD PREVAIL 15Z THROUGH 03Z THIS EVENING THEN DECREASE IN INTENSITY FOR AWHILE TONIGHT. ONSET OF SNOW AT KIDA AND KPIH MORE TRICKY. THERE IS SOME THREAT OF DOWNSLOPE WINDS AT KPIH BUT SOUTHWEST IS MORE PREFERRED. STRONG WARM OVER RUNNING SATURATES THE AIR TODAY AND NAM SHOWS SOME LEE SIDE TROUGHING IN THE 700 MB FIELD 00Z-03Z TIME FRAME. MIGHT TAKE THAT LONG. RS && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR IDZ020-021 THROUGH TONIGHT. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY CONTINUES BELOW 5500 FEET FOR IDZ019-023>025 THROUGH TONIGHT. WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES ABOVE 5500 FEET FOR IDZ019-023>025 THROUGH FRIDAY. WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES FOR IDZ017-022 THROUGH TONIGHT. WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES FOR IDZ018-031-032 THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. WINTER STORM WARNING ABOVE 5500 FEET FOR IDZ022 FOR THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 400 AM MST WED JAN 18 2012 IDZ017>025-031-032-191300- 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- 400 AM MST WED JAN 18 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN IDAHO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES...WILL OVERSPREAD SOUTHEAST IDAHO TODAY. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS. RISING SNOW LEVELS WITHIN THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN WILL SERVE TO HAMPER HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS...HOWEVER...THE COMBINATION OF LIGHT SNOW AND WIND COULD PRODUCE DIFFICULT DRIVING CONDITIONS THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A SERIES OF WINTER STORMS WILL IMPACT SOUTHEAST IDAHO THROUGH THE PERIOD. INDIVIDUALS TRAVELING THROUGH OR RECREATING WITHIN SOUTHEAST IDAHO SHOULD PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE LATEST FORECAST BEFORE VENTURING OUT. .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.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO
817 AM MST WED JAN 18 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM SNOW 2 SW VICTOR 43.58N 111.14W
01/18/2012 M3.0 INCH TETON ID TRAINED SPOTTER
OVERNIGHT SNOWFALL.
&&
GWICKLUN1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Interstate 15 between the cities of Idaho Falls and Roberts was closed for more than 24 hours due to blowing dust caused by strong winds. It was closed from January 18th around noon through January 19th at 5:30 PM.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, January 2012
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: 361865.