A very moist Pacific storm system dropped 10 to 24 inches of snow at high elevations throughout central and southeast Idaho.
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 moist Pacific storm system dropped 10 to 24 inches of snow at high elevations throughout central and southeast Idaho.
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 12, 1:27 PM MST, 11 hours 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 127 PM MST SAT MAR 12 2016 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. SOUTHWEST FLOW AHEAD OF A STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL PUSH MOISTURE INTO THE REGION THRU MON. SCATTERED SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS OVERNIGHT WITH A STRONGER SURGE OF MOISTURE. MOST OF THE PRECIP WILL BE IN THE CENTRAL MTNS...WHICH IS THE FAVORED AREA FOR MOIST SW OR W FLOW. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH SEVERAL INCHES IN THE CENTRAL MTNS ABOVE 7500 FT. LOWER ELEVATIONS CAN EXPECT MAINLY RAIN THRU SUN. A STRONGER SURGE OF PAC MOISTURE ARRIVES SUN NIGHT...WITH THE CENTRAL MTNS RECEIVING THE BRUNT OF THE SNOWFALL. SNOW LEVELS FALL TOWARD MON MORN...SO EVEN THE VALLEYS MAY SEE SOME SNOW ON MON. ONLY EXPECTING ACCUMULATIONS IN THE CENTRAL MTNS AND EASTERN HIGHLANDS. SNOWFALL IS FLIRTING WITH ADVISORY LEVELS IN THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS SUN NIGHT AND MON...BUT HIGH SNOW LEVELS MAY KEEP ACCUMULATIONS DOWN UNTIL THE COLDER AIR ARRIVES ON MON. WINDS WILL BECOME STRONGER OVERNIGHT AND EVEN MORE SO SUN AFTN. WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE EVEN STRONGER ON MON AS THE STORM SYSTEM MOVES THRU ID. TEMPS REMAIN MILD ON SUN...BUT COOL ON MON. HEDGES .LONG TERM...TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO KEEP BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES IN PLACE THROUGH THE BRUNT OF NEXT WEEK WITH THE COLDEST CONDITIONS EXPECTED TUESDAY WITH LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS. PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY WITH RIDGE APPROACHING FROM THE WEST WITH BRUNT OF SHOWERS IN THAT PERIOD IN THE MOUNTAINS. GFS WARMS UP MORE QUICKLY THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THAN EUROPEAN AND GRIDS HAVE HIGH TEMPERATURES BACK TO SEASONAL NORMAL OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE BY FRIDAY. GK && .AVIATION...A WEAK MID-LEVEL FRONTAL BOUNDARY SWEEPING EASTWARD THROUGH SE ID HAS PRODUCED A BAND OF MVFR CIGS AND SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS. THE LAST OF THESE MVFR CIGS HOLD ON AT IDA ATTM BUT CIGS SHOULD IMPROVE TO VFR HERE BY AROUND 22Z. OTHERWISE...POCKETS OF GUSTY SW-W WINDS IN THE 10-20 KT RANGE ACRS THE SNAKE PLAIN SHOULD SUBSIDE SOMEWHAT THIS EVENING. DISTURBANCE WILL ROTATE INTO SE IDAHO LATE THIS EVENING BRINGING ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND MVFR AND OCCASIONAL IFR CIGS TO BYI...IDA AND PIH OVERNIGHT. EXPECT CIGS TO LOWER AROUND 09Z AT BYI AND AROUND 12Z FOR PIH AND IDA. SOME IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE DURING THE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON. ANOTHER ROUND OF GUSTY SW WINDS EXPECTED AS WELL WITH GUSTS POSSIBLY TOPPING 25KT AT PIH AND IDA SUN AFTERNOON. FOR KSUN...ANTICIPATE CIGS TO LOWER TO MVFR AROUND 04Z AND IFR OVERNIGHT AS -SHRASN TURN TO SNOW OVERNIGHT. CIGS SHOULD DROP BELOW AIRFIELD MINIMUMS AFTER 04Z...WITH MEDIUM-HIGH CONFIDENCE CIGS WILL REMAIN BELOW MINS THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. TEMPORARY IMPROVEMENTS ABOVE MINS ARE BRIEFLY POSSIBLE DURING PERIODS OF LIGHTER PRECIP RATES. AD/HEDGES && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 6 PM MST THIS EVENING TO 6 PM MDT SUNDAY FOR IDZ018-031. WINTER STORM WATCH FROM SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR IDZ018-031. &&
4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy SNOTEL snow amounts for the storm were: Bear Canyon 18 inches, Mill Creek Summit 16 inches, and Smiley Mountain 21 inches.
The Phillips Bench SNOTEL received 11 inches of snow and the White Elephant site received 16 inches.
Heavy snow amounts recorded were 10 inches at Bostetter Ranger Station and 17 inches at Howell Canyon.
SNOTEL snow amounts were: 17 inches at Dollarhide Summit, 12 inches at Galena, 16 inches at Galena Summit, 18 inches at Lost Wood Divide, 12 inches at Swede Peak, and 24 inches at Vienna Mine.
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, March 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: 625297, 625298, 625301, 625302.