A funnel cloud was photographed just west of the Pocatello aiport.
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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 funnel cloud was photographed just west of the Pocatello aiport.
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 May 20, 12:46 PM MST, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 146 PM MDT WED MAY 20 2015 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. CURRENT SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A BAND OF CONVECTIVE SHOWERS DEVELOPING ACROSS NORTHERN NEVADA AND UTAH AND ADVANCING INTO IDAHO. ISOLATED LIGHTNING STRIKES ALREADY DEVELOPING BETWEEN THE CURLEW GRASS LANDS AND ROGERSON. THIS LINE SHOULD ADVANCE TO ABOUT A SUN VALLEY TO IDAHO FALLS LINE BY 9 PM THIS EVENING. CONVECTIVE CLOUDS ALSO TRYING TO DEVELOP OVER THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. SMALL HAIL AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED FROM ANY THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING...WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THUNDERSTORMS LESS THAN SEVERE LEVELS. LOW PRESSURE DISTURBANCE CONTINUES TO MOVE SOUTH ALONG THE COAST TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEFORE TURNING NORTHEAST AND LIFTING TOWARDS WYOMING ON SATURDAY. IN THE MEANTIME...SOUTHERLY FLOW INCREASES THURSDAY...WARMING TEMPERATURES...AND INSTABILITY FOR A CHANCE OF AFTERNOON SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS RATHER THAN WIDESPREAD STEADY RAIN. MOISTURE BEGINS TO WRAP AROUND THE LOW AGAIN FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY WITH POTENTIAL FOR SOME WIDESPREAD RAIN AGAIN ACROSS THE SNAKE PLAIN....EASTERN AND SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS. RS .LONG TERM...SAT NIGHT THROUGH NEXT WED NIGHT. LITTLE TO NO CHANGE TO THE CURRENT LONGWAVE PATTERN. WEAK SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO BRING IN UNSTABLE SUBTROPICAL AIR. LIKE YESTERDAYS FORECAST...THE LAST 24 HOURS SHIFTS TO A MORE WESTERLY FLOW...SO ONCE AGAIN IT HAS BEEN PUT OFF. SO POPS ARE LOWER FOR THE LAST DAY...BUT THE GENERAL PATTERN OF SLIGHT CHANCE DURING THE LATE NIGHT AND MORNING HOURS AND CHANCE TO LIKELY FOR THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONTINUES THROUGH THIS PERIOD. TEMPERATURE SWINGS FROM THE MIDDLE 40S TO THE MIDDLE 60S AT THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN ELEVATIONS ALSO CONTINUES...AGAIN POSSIBLY SLIGHTLY WARMER WED WHEN SKIES MAY CLEAR AT LEAST A LITTLE. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT...OUTSIDE OF THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOW...WIND SHOULD BE LIGHT TO BREEZY IN MAGNITUDE. MESSICK .AVIATION...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ONCE AGAIN THREATEN EACH AIRDROME FOR THE MID-AFTERNOON TO EARLY EVENING HOURS. DO NOT EXPECT ANY CIG OR VSBY IMPACT FROM ALL THE MOISTURE...BUT THERE IS A REMOTE POTENTIAL FOR SOME FOG AND LOW CIGS...SO IT WILL HAVE TO BE MONITORED. THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS THE OCCASIONAL MARGINAL VFR CIGS HAVE NOT BEEN CAUGHT SO WELL. WHAT MARGINAL VFR CIGS WERE OCCURRING THIS MORNING SHOULD BE DONE WITH BY THE MID-AFTERNOON. MESSICK && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. &&
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 242 PM MDT WED MAY 20 2015 IDZ017-022-202130- EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY ID-SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS ID- 242 PM MDT WED MAY 20 2015 ...HALF INCH HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH AFFECTING NORTHEASTERN CASSIA COUNTY UNTIL 330 PM MDT... AT 240 PM MDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES EAST OF ALBION...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 12 MPH. HALF INCH HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... MALTA...IDAHOME AND YALE REST AREA. THE STORMS WILL CROSS INTERSTATE 84 BETWEEN IDAHOME AND SUBLETT BY 3 PM MDT. LAT...LON 4222 11338 4249 11353 4261 11328 4235 11302 TIME...MOT...LOC 2040Z 239DEG 48KT 4242 11343 RS
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
330 PM MDT WED MAY 20 2015
IDZ017-021-022-202215-
EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY ID-SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS ID-
LOWER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN ID-
330 PM MDT WED MAY 20 2015
...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH
AFFECTING EASTERN CASSIA AND POWER COUNTIES UNTIL 415 PM MDT...
AT 326 PM MDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDING FROM NEAR MINIDOKA TO 7 MILES NORTHEAST OF MALTA TO 13
MILES SOUTHEAST OF ELBA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.
BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...SMALL INCH HAIL AND WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 30
MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS AS THEY MOVE NORTHEAST THROUGH
INTERSTATE 84 TOWARD RAFT RIVER THROUGH 415 PM MDT.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
LAKE WALCOTT...MINIDOKA...COLD WATER REST AREA...SUBLETT RESERVOIR...
BEAR TRAP AIRPORT AND PILAR BUTTE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
&&
LAT...LON 4315 11334 4269 11301 4230 11303 4206 11333
4236 11330 4275 11354
TIME...MOT...LOC 2126Z 207DEG 14KT 4272 11348 4240 11328 4217 11330
HUSTONThe Pocatello radar (KSFX), 21 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:35 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A funnel cloud was photographed just west of the Pocatello aiport.
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, May 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: 581767.