Another winter storm with both snow and strong winds again affected southeast Idaho with difficult travel and many road closures.
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.
Another winter storm with both snow and strong winds again affected southeast Idaho with difficult travel and many road closures.
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 Dec 22, 1:22 PM MST, 11 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 122 PM MST TUE DEC 22 2015 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. OCCASIONAL LIGHT SNOW CONTINUES ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN HIGHLANDS...AS WELL AS THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. THAT CARRIES OVER INTO THIS EVENING. AFTER MIDNIGHT...WE WILL SEE A QUICK MOVING BAND OF SNOW MOVING INTO THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...MAGIC VALLEY AND SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS. BY MORNING DRIVE TIME AND THROUGH NOON...THE BAND SHIFTS OVER INTO THE REST OF THE SNAKE PLAINS AND EASTERN HIGHLANDS. THE BAND WILL EXTEND BACK INTO CUSTER AND LEMHI COUNTY. IN ITS WAKE...SNOW SHOWERS WILL REMAIN OVER THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS INTO THE EVENING HOURS. THE SNOW OVER OUR EASTERN COUNTIES WILL SLOWLY DWINDLE BUT REMAIN PRETTY STEADY IN THE HIGHLANDS WITH SOME ADDITIONAL UPSLOPE POSSIBLE FROM AROUND POCATELLO UP THROUGH ASHTON. SNOW AMOUNTS WILL BE MUCH LOWER OVERALL...1-3 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS IN THE SNAKE PLAIN...LOST RIVER/PAHSEMROI AND SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS. THE SAWTOOTHS/SMOKYS AND MOST OF THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS MAY SEE 2-6 INCHES. HOWEVER...THE WIND WILL BE HOWLING AGAIN TOMORROW STARTING ALONG AND BEHIND THE MAIN BAND OF SNOW. WINDS OVER THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS WILL PEAK AT 15-30 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS AT HIGHEST ELEVATIONS. WINDS WILL BE WEAKEST FROM AROUND ISLAND PARK WESTWARD...WITH 10-20 MPH WINDS. THEY WILL BE STRONGEST ACROSS THE REST OF THE HIGHLANDS AND SNAKE PLAIN...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE LOWER SNAKE PLAIN...MAGIC VALLEY AND SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS. THOSE AREAS WILL SEE SUSTAINED WINDS OF 25-40 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH IN THE VALLEYS AND TO 60 MPH POSSIBLY ON HIGHER PEAKS. BECAUSE OF THE BLOWING/DRIFTING IMPACTS COMBINED WITH RECENT/NEW SNOWFALL...WE ARE ISSUING ADVISORIES FOR ALL AREAS EXCEPT FOR THE LOST RIVER/PAHSIMEROI STARTING AT 11PM TONIGHT. EVEN WHEN THE SNOW WINDS DOWN IN SEVERAL AREAS TOMORROW...THE BLOWING/DRIFTING IMPACT WILL CONTINUE. KEYES ...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. WEAK UPPER TROUGH DROPPING OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA INTO THE PACNW THURSDAY WILL BRING CHANCE OF SNOW TO THE REGION. AT THE SURFACE...A COLD FRONT WILL SWING THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY. MODELS SUGGEST THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS WILL HAVE THE GREATEST SNOWFALL. THE NAM PAINTS THE HEAVIEST PRECIP OVER BANNOCK/POWER COUNTIES WHILE THE GFS HAS IT FURTHER WEST OVER CASSIA COUNTY. TEMPS WILL COOL AFTER THE COLD FRONT HAS PASSED SO EXPECT HIGHS FRIDAY IN THE TEENS TO LOW 20S. HINSBERGER .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...IMPROVING WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS PERIOD AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION. MUCH COOLER AIR WILL BE FILTERING THROUGH REGION HOWEVER EXACTLY WHEN AND DEGREE TO HOW COLD IT WILL GET ARE THE BIGGEST QUESTIONS. SUNDAY WILL BE THE COLDEST MORNING WITH WELL BELOW ZERO LOWS POSSIBLE THROUGH OUR VALLEYS. GENERALLY TRENDED MORE TOWARD OUR EUROPEAN MODEL SOLUTION WHICH IS A BIT WARMER THAN WHAT GFS SUGGESTS. BY MONDAY AND CONTINUING THEREAFTER THERE ARE WIDE VARIANCES IN MODEL GUIDANCE BETWEEN FORECAST RUNS AND BETWEEN THE DIFFERENCE MODEL SOLUTIONS. SLIGHT CHANCES FOR PRECIP ARE ACCOUNTED FOR THE FORECAST FOR MOST LOCATIONS FOR NOW BASED ON TROUGH PROGRESSION FORECAST BY GFS MODEL. PETERSON && .AVIATION...BYI WILL CONTINUE TO SEE SNOW SHOWERS DRIFT OVER THE AIRFIELD THIS AFTERNOON WHICH WILL OCCASIONALLY DROP CEILING/VISIBILITY BELOW VFR. PIH AND IDA CONTINUE TO SEE SATURATION IN THE LOW-LEVELS KEEPING CEILINGS IFR AND LIFR RESPECTIVELY. WINDS WILL INCREASE LATER THIS AFTERNOON WHICH MAY LIFT CEILINGS SOMEWHAT. A SYSTEM WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA EARLY TOMORROW MORNING BRINGING SNOW AND STRONGER WINDS LATE IN THE MORNING. HINSBERGER && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 11 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR IDZ017>025-031. &&
4 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Four to 7 inches of snow combined with wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph closed interstate 84 from Burley to the Idaho/Utah border for the majority of December 23rd.
Four to 8 inches of snow combined with high winds with gusts over 30 mph caused extemely difficult travel conditions with one fatality in an accident on US Highway 20 near milepost 367 on Ashton Hill at 8 am on the 23rd. This caused the road to be closed for several hours.
Wind gusts of 50 mph combined with 3 to 6 inches of fresh snowfall created hazardous travel with numerous traffic accidents in Bear Lake County including a 7 car pileup. US HIghway 89 was closed from Ovid to the Utah border.
Strong winds combined with 3 to 7 inches of snow led to extremely hazardous driving conditions in the Caribou Highlands. A three car head on accident occurred on US Highway 30 in Soda Springs in the morning on the 23rd. The highway was also closed for several hours in the afternoon from milepost 371 to the Highway 34 junction.
Heavy snow fell in the Upper Snake River Plain with 7 inches in Taber, 5 inches in Rigby, and 4 inches in Idaho Falls.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Storm, Upper Snake Highlands | 2015-12-23 | 73 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, December 2015
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: 611614, 611615, 611616, 611617, 611618.