Another in a series of weather disturbances pushed into the region from the northwest. This disturbance brought with it a moist sub-tropical plume that rode up over an established high pressure ridge in the eastern Pacific.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 OTX wrote it up.
Another in a series of weather disturbances pushed into the region from the northwest. This disturbance brought with it a moist sub-tropical plume that rode up over an established high pressure ridge in the eastern Pacific. Primary forcing mechanisms with this system was isentropic ascent and favorable orographic lift due to low level westerly to southwesterly flow. The southerly component in the low level flow pattern did result in some warm air advection at low levels with snow levels rising through the event. Many valley locations did see some heavy, wet snowfall accumulations into the overnight hours on the 29th. Heaviest accumulations were observed closer to the Montana border in the Central Panhandle Mountains where temperatures stayed colder a bit longer.
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 Jan 29, 3:56 PM PST, 1 hour 4 minutes earlier.
<!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 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 540 AM PST TUE JAN 29 2013 IDZ027-WAZ031-301345- LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES-NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS- 540 AM PST TUE JAN 29 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE LIKELY THIS MORNING. SNOW WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN ISSUED. THERE WILL BE A BREAK IN THE PRECIPITATION THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING BEFORE SNOW WILL INCREASE AGAIN OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY RAIN AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. BREEZY CONDITIONS ON THE CAMAS PRAIRIE WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. IDZ001>004-026-WAZ032-033-036>038-301345- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-COEUR D'ALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE- CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS-LEWISTON AREA- LOWER GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES-WASHINGTON PALOUSE- SPOKANE AREA-NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS- 540 AM PST TUE JAN 29 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO...NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT RAIN AND SNOW WILL REDEVELOP THIS EVENING AND INCREASE OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY RAIN AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. BREEZY CONDITIONS ON THE PALOUSE AND CAMAS PRAIRIE WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WAZ034-035-041>044-301345- MOSES LAKE AREA-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-WENATCHEE AREA- EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES-OKANOGAN VALLEY-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 540 AM PST TUE JAN 29 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL WASHINGTON...EAST CENTRAL WASHINGTON AND NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA
1226 PM PST TUE JAN 29 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW CLARKIA RANGER STATION 47.02N 116.27W
01/29/2013 M6.0 INCH SHOSHONE ID CO-OP OBSERVER
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW NEZPERCE 46.23N 116.24W
01/29/2013 M4.2 INCH LEWIS ID TRAINED SPOTTER
COCORAHS OBSERVER
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW FERNAN LAKE VILLAGE 47.11N 116.40W
01/29/2013 M5.0 INCH BENEWAH ID TRAINED SPOTTER
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW MULLAN 47.47N 115.80W
01/29/2013 M5.0 INCH SHOSHONE ID CO-OP OBSERVER
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 SE VIOLA 46.82N 116.99W
01/29/2013 M5.8 INCH LATAH ID TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATED AS MORE REPORTS BECOME AVAILABLE.
NWS SPOKANEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA
100 PM PST TUE JAN 29 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 AM HEAVY SNOW 4 E WINCHESTER 46.24N 116.54W
01/29/2013 E7.0 INCH LEWIS ID PUBLIC
ESTIMATED 6 TO 7 INCHES.
&&
NWS SPOKANEThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snowfall reports ranged between one and four inches.
Heavy snowfall reports from four to as much as six and a half inches were reported in the valleys.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, January 2013
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: 427418, 427420.