Two to as much as 8 inches of snow fell on March 3rd causing extensive traffic accidents on southeast Idaho roads.
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.
Two to as much as 8 inches of snow fell on March 3rd causing extensive traffic accidents on southeast Idaho roads.
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 Mar 2, 9:03 PM MST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 903 PM MST MON MAR 2 2015 .UPDATE...UPPER TROUGH SLIDING SOUTH ACROSS EAST IDAHO THIS EVENING. SOUTHERN SHORTWAVE EJECTING NORTHEAST THROUGH UT INTO WY/CO. MAIN SHORTWAVE DROPPING THROUGH PANHANDLE TOWARD CENTRAL MTNS. COLD CLOUD TOPS FILLING IN OVER CENTRAL MTNS WITH OBSERVATIONS INDICATING SNOW UPSTREAM OF FCST AREA. TREND OF FCST STILL CONTINUES WITH MODELS PUSHING SNOW OUT OF THE SOUTHEAST CORNER AS WRAP AROUND FROM SOUTHERN SHORTWAVE CONTINUES EAST. LIGHT SNOW STILL PROGGED TO SAG SOUTH ACROSS THE CENTRAL MTNS THROUGH ROUGHLY 09Z. HEAVIEST BAND OF SNOW DEVELOPS ALONG/BEHIND COLD FRONT/CONVERGENT LINE AS IT SAGS SOUTH THROUGH SNAKE PLAIN BETWEEN 09Z-15Z. LATEST HRRR RUNS SHIFT THIS LINE QUICKLY SOUTH/SOUTHWEST INTO EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY/SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS LEAVING WEAK UPSLOPE CONDITIONS ALONG I-15/I86 CORRIDOR. HAVE MADE SOME MINOR MODIFICATIONS TO FCST FOR TONIGHT TO TREND WITH CURRENT RADAR/SATELLITE. WINTER WX ADVISORIES IN GOOD SHAPE SO NO CHANGES TO HEADLINES AT THIS TIME. DMH && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 134 PM MST MON MAR 2 2015/ SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. MAIN FOCUS IS ON POWERFUL FAST MOVING COLD FRONT THAT WILL ARRIVE TONIGHT AND EXIT THE REGION BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON. EXPECT THIS SYSTEM TO BRING SOME LIGHT SNOW INTO THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS THIS EVENING. MEANWHILE A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM PASSING SOUTH OF THE REGION WILL BRING SOME LIGHT SNOW TO EXTREME SOUTHEAST IDAHO...AROUND THE SODA SPRINGS AREA THIS EVENING. THE COLD FRONT WILL ARRIVE IN THE UPPER SNAKE PLAIN AND UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS AFTER MIDNIGHT TO AROUND THE POCATELLO AREA AROUND SUNRISE. THIS FRONT WILL EXIT THE AREA BY NOON. VERY QUICK HITTING ROUND OF SNOW WITH THIS SYSTEM. THE SNOW AMOUNTS HAVE BEEN FLUCTUATING QUITE A BIT. LATEST MODELS DID COME DOWN A LITTLE ON THE AMOUNTS...BUT STILL LOOKING AT 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS THE EASTERN SNAKE PLAIN AND EASTERN HIGHLANDS. WIND GUSTS OF 20 TO 25 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE FRONT AS WELL WHICH COULD CREATE SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING ISSUES. WILL CONTINUE THE ADVISORY BECAUSE IT MAY CREATE PROBLEMS FOR THE TUESDAY MORNING COMMUTE...ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE HASNT BEEN MUCH SNOW IN A WHILE. SEEM TO HAVE A REALLY GOOD HANDLE ON THE TIMING SO WILL TRIM THE ADVISORY TO START AT 03Z AND END AROUND 21Z. VALLE LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. EXPECT DRY CONDITIONS AND SLIGHTLY COOLER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY BEHIND AN EXITING COLD FRONT. THURSDAY THROUGH THE END OF PERIOD EXPECT DRY CONDITIONS AND GRADUAL WARMING TEMPERATURES. EXPECT WELL ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES BY THE WEEKEND INTO MONDAY. THE GFS MODEL HAS DROPPED THE POSSIBILITY OF A WEAK SYSTEM FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. HOWEVER...THE ECMWF MODELS CONTINUES TO SHOW A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION LATE FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. WYATT AVIATION...LOOK FOR VFR CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EARLY EVENING. HOWEVER...A SYSTEM WILL BRING SNOW ACROSS THE AREA LATE TONIGHT INTO TOMORROW. EXPECT IFR/MVFR CONDITIONS BY LATE EVENING THROUGH EARLY TOMORROW AFTERNOON FOR MAINLY KIDA AND KPIH AND TO AN LESSER EXTENT FOR KBYI AND KSUN. ALSO...LOOK FOR BREEZY WINDS ACROSS THE AREA TOMORROW. WYATT && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 2 PM MST TUESDAY IDZ020-021. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 2 PM MST TUESDAY IDZ019-023. &&
2 winter weather, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Three to 5 inches of snow fell with a car tipping over on Highway 89 near the town of Montpelier.
Five inches of snow fell in Driggs with 8 inches in Victor.
Two to 4 inches of snow fell in the Pocatello and American Falls areas with several slide offs and rollovers reported on interstate 86. Interstate 86 east bound was temporarily closed off near Coldwater Rest area.
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, March 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: 568320, 568319, 568318.