An avalanche occurred at 2:30 am December 8th at 955 Warm Springs Road near Frenchman's Bend west of Ketchum.
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.
An avalanche occurred at 2:30 am December 8th at 955 Warm Springs Road near Frenchman's Bend west of Ketchum.
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, 2:12 PM MST, 12 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 212 PM MST MON DEC 7 2015 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. A WARM AND MOIST PACIFIC FLOW WAS ADVANCING EAST THROUGH THE REGION AHEAD OF AN EMBEDDED DISTURBANCE WHICH WAS ROTATING THROUGH THE PORTLAND AREA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. NUMERICAL MODELS DRIVE THIS DISTURBANCE INTO SW MONTANA THIS EVENING AND THEN EASTWARD LATE TONIGHT WITH PRECIPITATION DIMINISHING FROM WEST TO EAST LATE TONIGHT. SNOW LEVELS CONTINUE TO PRESENT A PROBLEM WITH SOME VALLEY LOCATIONS MIXING OUT WHILE OTHERS REMAIN COLD ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SNOWFALL. GENERALLY SPEAKING...OUTSIDE OF THE COLDER VALLEY LOCATIONS...SNOW LEVELS SHOULD REMAIN FAIRLY STEADY THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY AND INTO THE EVENING BEFORE LOWERING SOME AS THE DRIER AIR TRAILS INTO THE REGION LATE TONIGHT. FOR NOW WE WILL STAY WITH THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES ALTHOUGH SOME MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS ABOVE 7000 FEET...PARTICULARLY IN THE CNTRL MOUNTAINS AND UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS MAY SEE WARNING AMOUNTS (>10 INCHES). A BRIEF RESPITE FOLLOWS TUESDAY/TUESDAY NIGHT AS THE STORM TRACK LIFTS NORTH INTO THE PANHANDLE AS THE NEXT UPSTREAM DISTURBANCE ADVANCES TOWARD THE COAST. ANOTHER STRONG SHOT OF RAIN AND SNOW FOLLOWS WEDNESDAY AS THE DISTURBANCE PUSHES EAST THROUGH THE REGION. SNOW LEVELS WILL PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN POTENTIAL ACCUMULATIONS WITH THIS FAST MOVING SYSTEM BUT FOR NOW ADVISORY LEVEL (5 TO 8 INCH) ACCUMULATIONS ARE ANTICIPATED FOR THE CNTRL MOUNTAINS. A DEEPER AND STRONGER STORM SYSTEM SETTLES INTO THE NORTHWEST COASTAL WATERS THURSDAY MORNING WITH A STRONG WARM-FRONTAL PRECIPITATION PATTERN LIFTING ACROSS THE REGION THURSDAY MORNING...FOLLOWED BY THE COLD FRONT AND LOWERING SNOW LEVELS THURSDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL BE STRONGLY DEPENDENT UPON SNOW LEVELS AND FOR RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS AS IF A BROAD AREA OF ADVISORY LEVEL SNOWFALL (5 TO 10 INCHES) WILL IMPACT THE CNTRL MOUNTAINS AND ERN HIGHLANDS WITH POTENTIALLY 1 TO 3 INCHES IN THE UPPER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN NORTH OF IDAHO FALLS. HUSTON .LONG TERM...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. THURSDAY NIGHT EXPECT A LINGERING SYSTEM ALONG OUR EASTERN BORDER. LOOK FOR 1 TO 2 INCHES OF VALLEY SNOW AND 2 TO 4 INCHES OF MOUNTAIN SNOW MAINLY ALONG OUR EASTERN BORDERS. MODELS CONTINUE TO DISAGREE FRIDAY THROUGH THE END OF THE PERIOD. THE GFS MODEL IS MORE MOIST LEAVING LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS IN WEST NORTHWEST FLOW ON FRIDAY AND BRINGING IN THE NEXT SYSTEM SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THE GFS MODEL THEN DEVELOPS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER US THAT CONTINUES LINGERING MODERATE SNOW THROUGH MONDAY. ON THE OTHER HAND...THE ECMWF MODEL DRIES THE AREA OUT ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY IN NORTHWEST FLOW AND THEN BRINGS THE NEXT SYSTEM IN ON SUNDAY. THE ECMWF MODELS QUICKLY MOVES THIS SYSTEM THROUGH BY LATE SUNDAY AND BRINGS IN DRY...COLD NORTHERLY AIR FOR MONDAY. BOTH MODELS AGREE THAT MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION THAT FALLS OVER THE WEEKEND SHOULD BE SNOW. ONLY LOWER AREAS OF EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY MAY SEE RAIN. BOTH MODELS SHOW MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES AND DRIER CONDITIONS ON TUESDAY. WYATT && .AVIATION...THERE IS A DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH US CURRENTLY. KSUN IS CURRENTLY IFR AND WILL LIKELY REMAIN IFR THROUGH THE PERIOD. THIS SNOW WILL STOP AROUND MIDNIGHT SO CONDITIONS MAY IMPROVE TEMPORARILY LATE THIS EVENING BEFORE THE NEXT SYSTEM STARTS IMPACTING THE AREA BY LATE TOMORROW MORNING. RAIN JUST STARTED AT KIDA BRINGING MVFR CONDITIONS. EXPECT IFR CONDITIONS BY LATE AFTERNOON FOR KIDA WITH CONTINUED RAIN THROUGH AROUND MIDNIGHT. MODELS ARE INDICATING IFR STRATUS CIGS FOR KIDA THROUGH THE EVENING AND TOMORROW MORNING. KPIH AND KBYI WILL HAVE RAIN BY MID AFTERNOON BRINGING MVFR CIG/VIS THAT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AROUND MIDNIGHT IN RAIN SHOWERS. MODELS ARE INDICATING KBYI WILL BECOME VFR RATHER QUICKLY TONIGHT WITH KPIH REMAINING MVFR/IFR WITH STRATUS CIGS THROUGH TOMORROW MORNING. WYATT && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY CONTINUES THROUGH NOON TUESDAY FOR IDZ019. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY CONTINUES THROUGH 6 AM MST TUESDAY FOR IDZ018-031. &&
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
1013 PM MST MON DEC 7 2015
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 16 NW STANLEY 44.30N 115.23W
12/07/2015 E8.6 INCH BOISE ID MESONET
BANNER SUMMIT SNOTEL 7040 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 16 NE ISLAND PARK 44.50N 111.13W
12/07/2015 E14.5 INCH GALLATIN MT MESONET
BLACK BEAR SNOTEL 8150 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 30 SW BURLEY 42.17N 114.20W
12/07/2015 E5.4 INCH CASSIA ID MESONET
BOSTETTER R.S. SNOTEL 7503 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 12 NNW KETCHUM 43.77N 114.42W
12/07/2015 E5.7 INCH BLAINE ID MESONET
CHOCOLATE GULCH SNOTEL 6440 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 20 NE PRESTON 42.37N 111.57W
12/07/2015 E1.6 INCH FRANKLIN ID MESONET
EMIGRANT SUMMIT SNOTEL 7390 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 12 NW ATLANTA 43.95N 115.27W
12/07/2015 E6.8 INCH ELMORE ID MESONET
GRAHAM G.S. SNOTEL 5690 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 22 NW KETCHUM 43.87N 114.72W
12/07/2015 E7.7 INCH BLAINE ID MESONET
GALENA SUMMIT SNOTEL 8782 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 32 NNE DRIGGS 44.13N 110.83W
12/07/2015 E9.0 INCH TETON WY MESONET
GRASSY LAKE SNOTEL 7265 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 18 SE BURLEY 42.32N 113.62W
12/07/2015 E4.6 INCH CASSIA ID MESONET
HOWELL CANYON SNOTEL 7982 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 10 NW KETCHUM 43.82N 114.27W
12/07/2015 E10.4 INCH BLAINE ID MESONET
LOST WOOD DIVIDE SNOTEL 7903 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 30 WSW BURLEY 42.18N 114.28W
12/07/2015 E2.1 INCH TWIN FALLS ID MESONET
MAGIC MOUNTAIN SNOTEL 6833 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 32 NE MACKAY 44.42N 113.40W
12/07/2015 E3.2 INCH LEMHI ID MESONET
MOONSHINE SNOTEL 7440 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 6 S WEST YELLOWSTONE 44.58N 111.12W
12/07/2015 E9.1 INCH GALLATIN MT MESONET
MADISON PLATEAU SNOTEL 7750 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 24 N CHALLIS 44.85N 114.27W
12/07/2015 E2.1 INCH LEMHI ID MESONET
MORGAN CREEK SNOTEL 7600 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 27 NNE CHALLIS 44.85N 113.85W
12/07/2015 E2.8 INCH LEMHI ID MESONET
SCHWARTZ LAKE SNOTEL 8620 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM SNOW 10 SSE LAVA HOT SPRINGS 42.52N 111.95W
12/07/2015 E2.4 INCH BANNOCK ID MESONET
SEDWICK PEAK SNOTEL 7897 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 21 ENE HAILEY 43.63N 113.97W
12/07/2015 E6.2 INCH BLAINE ID MESONET
SWEDE PEAK SNOTEL 7641 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 22 NW KETCHUM 43.80N 114.85W
12/07/2015 E13.2 INCH BLAINE ID MESONET
VIENNA MINE SNOTEL 8963 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
0900 PM HEAVY SNOW 8 NW ISLAND PARK 44.53N 111.42W
12/07/2015 E6.2 INCH FREMONT ID MESONET
WHITE ELEPHANT SNOTEL 7713 MSL. 16-HOUR TOTAL.
&&
JKEYES1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
An avalanche occurred at 2:30 am December 8th at 955 Warm Springs Road near Frenchman's Bend west of Ketchum.
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: 611561.