A Pacific storm system brought heavy snow to the mountains of southeast and central Idaho with the heaviest amounts in the Wood River region and Upper Snake River Highlands.
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.
A Pacific storm system brought heavy snow to the mountains of southeast and central Idaho with the heaviest amounts in the Wood River region and Upper Snake River Highlands.
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 7, 8:43 AM MST, 3 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 843 AM MST MON DEC 7 2015 .SHORT TERM...SNOW LEVELS WERE STARTING OUT A BIT MORE ELEVATED THIS MORNING AND THE WEATHER AND SNOWFALL FORECASTS WERE NOT IN AGREEMENT WITH THE SNOW LEVEL FORECAST SO AN UPDATE WAS PERFORMED. THE PREVIOUS SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ABOVE 7000 MSL WERE UNDER DONE AND THE AMOUNTS BELOW 7000 MSL (PARTICULARLY IN THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN) APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN OVER DONE. SEE THE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION BELOW. HUSTON THE INCOMING STORM AT THIS HOUR IS ALREADY SPREADING PRECIPITATION INTO THE WESTERN EDGES OF THE FORECAST AREA...SO HAVE CHANGED THE TIMING ON THE HIGHLIGHTS. HAVE ALSO LOWERED THE THREAT LEVEL TO ADVISORY CATEGORY...ALTHOUGH ABOVE 9000 FT ELEVATION THE 10 TO 16 INCH ACCUMULATION IS STILL LIKELY. THIS STORM HAS ENTRAINED MOISTURE A SUBTROPICAL AIRMASS AND THUS WHILE THE AIR IS VERY MOIST...IT IS ALSO VERY WARM FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. AFTERNOON HIGHS IN THE EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY AND LOWER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN WILL BE FROM THE MIDDLE 40S TO JUST OVER 50 DEGREES. THUS EXPECT RAIN THERE...ESPECIALLY SINCE LOWS TONIGHT WILL STAY AT FREEZING OR ABOVE. SEE LITTLE OR NO SNOW IN THE EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY...PERHAPS UP TO AN INCH IN THE POCATELLO AREA ON THE BENCHES...AND MOSTLY IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. THE SNOW LEVEL SHOULD PEAK DURING THE AFTERNOON...THEN LOWER STRONGLY DURING THE EVENING...BUT THEN WARM UP SLIGHTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT AS THE WARM AIR REACHES ITS NORTHERNMOST SURGE. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER AGAIN AS THIS FIRST STORM PULLS AWAY TO THE EAST. THE NEXT STORM ARRIVES QUICKLY ON THE HEELS OF THE FIRST ONE. THE BREAK IS TUE NIGHT...THEN BY WED AFTERNOON RAIN AND SNOW WILL BE MOVING IN AGAIN. THIS STORM ALSO IS WET AND WARM...SO EXPECT ONCE AGAIN HIGH ELEVATIONS TO GET THE ADVISORY LEVEL SNOW WITH LITTLE BELOW 5500 FEET. EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER AND VERY STABLE AIR MASS WILL MEAN ONLY BREEZY CONDITIONS BELOW 8000 FEET. MESSICK .LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. A VERY ACTIVE PATTERN CONTINUES THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...BUT WITH MODELS RAPIDLY GROWING IN THEIR DIFFERENCES. THE THURSDAY EVENT WILL BE ANOTHER VERY MOIST DISTURBANCE WITH POTENTIAL FOR SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS AND SNOW LEVELS DROPPING TO THE VALLEY FLOORS BY LATE AFTERNOON. SO THERE IS SOME QUESTION AS TO HOW MUCH SNOW IN THE VALLEYS...AN INCH OR TWO IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION AT THIS POINT. THE GFS IS RUNNING 6 TO 12 HOURS FASTER THAN OTHER MODELS AND HAS THIS DISTURBANCE MOVING INTO WYOMING AND UTAH BY MIDNIGHT. FRIDAY...STRONG UPPER LEVEL WINDS DIG A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH WELL SOUTH INTO ARIZONA. THE GFS HAS YET ANOTHER EMBEDDED DISTURBANCE WITH DEEP MOISTURE CROSSING SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO WHILE OTHER MODELS ARE DRIER. HAVE PREFERRED TO GO WITH SLOWER PROGRESSION AND A MORE AMPLIFIED TRANSITORY RIDGE MOVING THROUGH THIS AREA ON SATURDAY. MODELS GENERALLY AGREE ON ANOTHER DISTURBANCE COMING IN ON SUNDAY. RS && .AVIATION...PRECIPITATION ALREADY APPROACHING KSUN FROM THE WEST THIS MORNING. THIS DISTURBANCE IS WETTER THAN YESTERDAY. CEILINGS SHOULD DROP BELOW 2000 FEET AGL AROUND 18Z AND CONTINUE LONGER...THROUGH AROUND 04Z THIS EVENING. FOR KBYI...KPIH AND KIDA LOOK FOR MVFR CEILINGS AND PRECIPITATION BEGINNING NEAR 21Z. KBYI IMPROVING ABOUT 02Z...AND FOR KPIH AND KIDA IMPROVING AFTER 05Z BUT WITH LINGER MVFR CLOUD DECK. SNOW LEVELS NEAR 4500 MSL THIS MORNING EXPECTED TO RISE TO NEAR 6500 FEET LATE THIS AFTERNOON. RS && && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO NOON MST TUESDAY FOR IDZ019. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM MST TUESDAY FOR IDZ018-031. &&
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Ten inches of snow fell at Mt Baldy with 10 inches at Galena Summit, 12 inches at Lost Wood Divide, and 15 inches at Vienna Mine.
Twenty inches of snow fell at the Black Bear SNOTEL site with 13 inches at White Elephant.
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: 611559, 611560.