A very powerful Pacific storm brought several hours of snow to high elevations of southeast Idaho. Many amounts of over 10 inches were recorded.
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 very powerful Pacific storm brought several hours of snow to high elevations of southeast Idaho. Many amounts of over 10 inches were recorded. It started out a warm system with high freezing levels but after extensive rain, even valley locations received snow accumulations in the 1 to 5 inch range after cold frontal passage late on the 29th and early on the 30th.
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 Jan 28, 1:28 PM MST, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 128 PM MST THU JAN 28 2016 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. WINTER STORM WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR MOUNTAIN AREAS TONIGHT THORUGH SATURDAY MORNING IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND THROUGH SATURDAY IN THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN HIGHLANDS. TWO PACIFIC STORM SYSTEMS WILL MOVE THROUGH EASTERN IDAHO. THE FIRST ONE WILL MOVE THROUGH QUICKLY TONIGHT AND DROP 1 TO 4 INCHES IN HIGH ELEVATIONS THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. EXPECT A BREAK UNTIL THE NEXT SYSTEM QUICKLY SPREADS SNOW ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AGAIN FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY. SNOW LEVELS FRIDAY SHOULD RISE TO 5500 TO 6000 FEET AND EXPECT LOWER ELEVATIONS TO CHANGE TO RAIN BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR A PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN IN THE POCATELLO AREA TONIGHT AS WELL. 10 TO 15 INCHES OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE ABOVE 6000 FEET THROUGH SATURDAY WITH 5 TO 9 INCHES POSSIBLE AT LOWER MOUNTAIN ELEVATIONS. THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN IS EXPECTED TO GET ANYWHERE FROM A HALF INCH TO 2 INCHES THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING AS RAIN WILL CHANGE BACK TO SNOW LATE FRIDAY NIGHT TOWARD THE END OF THE EVENT. EXPECT SOME BLOWING SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS AS WELL ESPECIALLY OVER PASSES FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY MORNING WITH THE PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT WITH SOUTHERLY WINDS AHEAD OF THE FRONT SHIFTING TO WESTERLY BEHIND IT FRIDAY NIGHT. INTERSTATE 84 WILL LIKELY EXPERIENCE EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING. TEMPERATURES WILL TURN SHARPLY COLDER SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY WITH THE STORM TAPERING OFF WEST TO EAST SATURDAY WITH SNOW LIKELY CONTINUING IN THE EASTERN MOUNTAIN AREAS NEAR THE WYOMING BORDER THEN ONLY SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ON SUNDAY WITH MINIMAL ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED. GK .LONG TERM...LATE SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES AND DROPPING SNOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH LONG WAVE TROUGH SETTING UP ACROSS THE CENTRAL US. NORTHERLY WINDS BEGIN FILTERING THROUGH MONDAY AND CONTINUE FOR A FEW DAYS AND WILL THUS CONTINUE BRINGING COOLER AIR THROUGH THE REGION. GRADUALLY WINDS TO SHIFT MID-WEEK WITH ANTICIPATED HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE BUILDING IN... GRADUALLY INCREASING TEMPERATURES. THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR MID-WEEK SNOW SHOWERS AS WELL ESPECIALLY AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. THIS IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE A SIGNIFICANT EVENT HOWEVER AND WOULD BE QUICK LIVED. NP/GK && .AVIATION...MIXED DISCUSSION OF PRECIPITATION TYPES OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. FOR THIS AFTERNOON EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS AT ALL LOCATIONS. BEGINNING THIS EVENING PRECIPITATION IS FORECAST TO BEGIN AT ALL LOCATIONS. AT THIS TIME...SNOW IS EXPECTED AT SUN VALLEY AND IDAHO FALLS THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. AT IDAHO FALLS SNOW TO TRANSITION TO RAIN FRIDAY MORNING BEFORE DISSIPATING. FOR POCATELLO...MODELS ARE INDICATING POTENTIAL FOR FREEZING RAIN DEVELOPMENT THIS EVENING WITH A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW OVERNIGHT. THE CONFIDENCE FOR THIS IS AVERAGE. BY MID-MORNING EXPECT THE PRECIPITATION TO DIMINISH BUT BE WARY OF ICE ACCUMULATIONS. AT BURLEY ALL PRECIPITATION WILL BE RAIN TONIGHT. DURING ALL TIMES OF PRECIPITATION EXPECT LOWERED CEILINGS AND REDUCED VISIBILITY THEREFORE EITHER MVFR OR IFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. CEILINGS EXPECTED TO BREAK BRIEFLY TOMORROW MORNING BEFORE THE NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES EARLY AFTERNOON. NP/GK && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON FOR IDZ019-023-025. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 PM MST SATURDAY FOR IDZ019-022-023-025. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 11 AM MST SATURDAY FOR IDZ018-031. &&
6 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snow amounts reported by spotters were 10 inches at Victor and 9 inches in Driggs. SNOTEL amounts were the following: 25 inches at Black Bear, 13 inches at Island Park, 16 inches at Phillips Bench, and 19 inches at White Elephant.
SNOTEL amounts were 15 inches at Bostetter Ranger Station, 21 inches at Howell Canyon, 10 inches at Magic Mountain, and 9 inches at Oxford Springs.
Spotters reported 12 inches of snow in Inkom. SNOTEL amounts were the following: 13 inches at Pine Creek Pass, 11 inches at Sedgwick Peak, 10 inches at Sheep Mountain, and 18 inches at Wildhorse Divide.
Heavy snow amounts at SNOTEL sites were 11 inches at Dollarhide Summit, 12 inches at Galena, 14 inches at Galena Summit, and 10 inches at Lost Wood Divide.
Heavy SNOTEL amounts were 10 inches at Meadow Lake and 10 inches at Moonshine.
Eight inches of snow fell in Franklin. SNOTEL amounts were 17 inches at Emigrant Summit.
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, January 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 614981, 614982, 614983, 614985, 614986, 614984.