Another prolonged winter storm affected the entirety of southeast Idaho beginning in the mountains during the day on the 23rd and spreading east through the Snake River Plain and eastern highlands on the 24th and continuing through Christmas day. Every single zone in the Pocatello forecast area was affected by this storm with extremely heavy snowfall, strong winds and horrible driving conditions.
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 prolonged winter storm affected the entirety of southeast Idaho beginning in the mountains during the day on the 23rd and spreading east through the Snake River Plain and eastern highlands on the 24th and continuing through Christmas day. Every single zone in the Pocatello forecast area was affected by this storm with extremely heavy snowfall, strong winds and horrible driving conditions.
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 23, 2:41 AM MST, 8 hours 19 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 241 AM MST Fri Dec 23 2016 .SHORT TERM...Today through Sunday night. A well defined upper trough is currently making landfall along the WA/OR coast. As the trough makes its way inland, expect to see increasing chances of precip starting over the Central Mountains late this morning and spreading to the rest of the area this afternoon and evening. Confidence in the timing of the onset of precip is improving, but precip/snowfall amounts will depend on mesoscale features that develop as the system develops. For instance, downslope flow between Pocatello and Burley may inhibit much of the precip along the I-86 corridor through late Saturday morning when flow becomes more westerly behind the surface front. While the precip will be lighter behind the front, surface winds may be strong enough to produce blowing snow. Warm air advection ahead of the front may bring brief periods of rain or rain/snow. Forcing from the upper trough shifts to the east through Sunday afternoon, and surface gradient weakens, but still maintaining PoPs over the Eastern Highlands through Sunday night, though amounts should be fairly light by then. Storm totals for tomorrow look to be 5 to 7 inches in the Snake Plain, and 12 to 15 inches in the mountains. Snowfall on Christmas Day should be primarily over the Southeastern Highlands with another 5 to 8 inches expected, and about 1 to 3 additional inches in the Snake Plain. Hinsberger .LONG TERM...Monday through Friday. Departing storm system leaves a little bit of moisture in place for potential for light snows continuing along WY border into Monday. Otherwise dry conditions for most areas Monday. Next significant system arrives primarily during the day Tuesday, impacting mainly higher elevations through Tuesday night in favored westerly flow upslope regions. Quick blast through lower elevations still possible, though it looks like upper snake/arco desert region could be somewhat shadowed with this event. Remnants of system drive through Wednesday, then upper ridge builds into the region for the remainder of the week. DMH && .AVIATION...Satellite imagery shows pockets of stratus/fog but so far staying away from terminal sites. Will continue tempo groups with stratus but confidence low that any individual site will see significant impact early today. Next system already driving into PacNW and will see conditions deteriorate through the day. Most terminals drop to MVFR during the afternoon and IFR/LIFR with snow overnight. KSUN will deteriorate sooner. Caveat will be amount of downslope/south wind impact between KBYI/KPIH, which could keep ceilings higher and hold off on the snowfall. DMH && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from noon today to 5 PM MST Sunday for IDZ020-021. Winter Storm Warning from noon today to 5 PM MST Sunday for IDZ019-023>025. Winter Storm Warning from noon today to 6 AM MST Sunday for IDZ022. Winter Storm Warning from noon today to 5 PM MST Saturday for IDZ018-031. Winter Weather Advisory from noon today to 6 AM MST Sunday for IDZ017. Winter Weather Advisory from noon today to 5 PM MST Saturday for IDZ032. &&
9 heavy snow, 1 blizzard, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
SNOTEL amounts with this storm were: 13 inches at Bear Canyon, 17 inches at Smiley Mountain, and 10 inches at Stickney Mill. The Stanley COOP observer reported 6 inches.
Heavy snowfall at SNOTEL sites were the following: Emigrant Summit 14 inches and Slug Creek Divide 10 inches. The Bern COOP observer reported 8 inches.
Many spotters and COOP observers reported very heavy snow. Ashton had 11 inches, Dubois 14 inches, St Anthony 15 inches, and Small 16 inches. The following SNOTEL amounts were recorded: Black Bear 14 inches, Crab Creek 23 inches, Island Park 14 inches, and White Elephant 34 inches.
A blizzard hit the South Central Highlands over the Christmas weekend with interstate 84 shut down from the interstate 86 junction to the Utah border. Visibility was reduced to zero in places with winds gusting to over 50 mph along the interstate, especially at Yale Road. Snow amounts with the storm from SNOTEL sites were: 6 inches at Bostetter Ranger Station, 20 inches at Howell Canyon, 7 inches at Magic Mountain, and 17 inches at Oxford Springs.
Heavy snow amounts over the weekend at SNOTEL sites were: Sedgwick Peak 25 inches, Somsen Ranch 10 inches, Sheep Mountain 13 inches, and Wildhorse Divide 24 inches. Some COOP observer reports were 6 inches in Downey and 7 inches in Swan Valley.
SNOTEL sites reported the following heavy snow amounts: Chocolate Gulch 15 inches, Dollarhide Summit 17 inches, Garfield Ranger Station 13 inches, Galena Summit 12 inches, Hyndman 12 inches, Lost Wood Divide 16 inchesSwede Peak 20 inches, and Vienna Mine 14 inches. COOP observers reported 10 inches at Ketchum and 13 inches at Bellevue.
The following heavy snow amounts were recorded at SNOTEL sites: Hilts Creek 13 inches, Meadow Lake 12 inches, Moonshine 11 inches, and Morgan Creek 7 inches.
Heavy snow fell throughout the Upper Snake River Plain with many reports received from spotters and COOP observers. Idaho Falls received 8 to 10 inches and the city implemented a parking ban on streets. Other heavy snowfall amounts were: 9 inches in Hamer, 10 inches in Rigby, 12 inches in Roberts, and 15 inches in Sugar City.
COOP observers reported 8 inches of snow in Picabo and 6 inches in Richfield.
The lower Snake River Plain experienced a very white Christmas. Snow began falling in the late morning and early afternoon Christmas eve and continued through the entire day on Christmas day. Some of the heavy amounts of snow reported were the following: Aberdeen 8 inches, American Falls 6 inches, In the Pocatello and Chubbuck city region amounts of 14 to 17 inches fell, and 12 inches in Blackfoot.
The city of Preston reported 12 inches of snow over the Christmas weekend.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, December 2016
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: 672308, 672325, 672312, 672320, 672321, 672328, 672330, 672316, 672305, 672317, 672322.