An avalanche two miles north of Ketchum nearly buried a house. It shattered all windows and made it inside the home.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
An avalanche two miles north of Ketchum nearly buried a house. It shattered all windows and made it inside the home. No serious injuries occurred.
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 Feb 15, 5:03 AM MST, 7 hours 57 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 503 AM MST Fri Feb 15 2019 .SHORT TERM...Today Through Sunday. One last day of moderate-impact weather is expected today, before things finally calm down for a few days across SE Idaho. While a few rain and snow showers are crossing the region this morning, radar shows a relative break in the precipitation this morning, which is supported by high-resolution model guidance. By late morning, one final round of precipitation is expected to develop along and ahead of a second approaching cold front, which will cross the region from west to east this afternoon and evening. The various high-res and short-term models all support this evolution, with just minor differences on exact timing and placement of precip. Pushed PoPs into the 65-100% range this afternoon as this activity works through, and used a blend of the NBM and GFS for QPF. 850mb winds ahead of the front will be out of the south, and while the trajectory isn't as ideal as what we saw with the storm this past weekend, there may be some upslope enhancement against the southern/eastern central mntns from mid- morning through mid-afternoon, so we nudged QPF amounts slightly higher in favored areas including the Wood River Valley. While instability may be marginal, it should also be noted that model projections are looking a bit convective along the front this afternoon, so we can't rule out some brief, heavy snow showers or squalls as the frontal precip pushes through. Overall forecast confidence today is moderate to high, with how much upslope enhancement may come into play making forecast snowfall amounts a bit more conditional for places like the Wood River Valley and Big Lost Valley. Speaking of snowfall amounts, additional totals today and tonight appear to be on the order of 3-6 inches from the Wood River Valley across the western central mntns, and 3-5 inches from the Island Park region into the Teton Valley, Big Hole Mountains, Caribou Highlands, and Bear River Range (with localized higher amounts above pass level in both cases). These amounts are barely flirting with the low end of advisory criteria, and even considering some impact factors such as breezy conditions producing localized blowing/drifting snow and some of the heaviest snow falling during the evening commute, felt it very hard to justify continuing the Winter Storm Warning. Thus, we converted all of the warning zones to Winter Weather Advisories and ran them through 5 PM (the Beaverhead/Lemhi Highlands area was dropped). It may not be out of the question that some of our eastern zones may need to be extended a bit depending on the exact timing of the front and how long precip lingers behind it, but will let subsequent shifts monitor this and adjust as needed. Precip type should be predominately snow across all advisory areas. Finally, accumulations in the eastern Magic Valley, Snake Plain, and western southern highlands are expected to range from a coating to 2.5 inches with the frontal band today. We are envisioning Special Weather Statements or even a short-fused advisory MIGHT be needed later for these areas, especially if any heavier snow showers or squalls develop along the front, but our confidence is low at this time. Precipitation may start out as rain, but should quickly change to snow due to a combination of precip-induced adiabatic cooling and cooler air working in with front itself. Isolated to scattered snow showers may continue Sat and Sun, especially in our mntns and highlands, as a low pressure center passes to our SW and the regional flow remains moist and messy, but amounts at this time look extremely light and low-impact. Confidence on this activity is low, and didn't stray too far from an NBM/GFS blend with some minor adjustments. - KSmith/TAX .LONG TERM...Sunday Night Through Next Friday. A broad trough over the western CONUS will keep the potential of some mountain snow showers Sunday night into Monday. The final trough axis swings through during the day Monday, perhaps spreading snow into the Snake Plain, but with moisture eroding quickly impacts of this activity should be limited. A break in precipitation chances is then expected as we transition from one system to the next arriving Wednesday. Models are not nearly in as much agreement as they were during previous runs with how to evolve the Weds/Thurs system. The 00z GFS digs the next upper low over us and drops it to our south, while the 00z EC cuts it off well to our southwest, splitting the moisture around eastern Idaho. With this in mind, will stick with the blend of models which remains close to the middle of these solutions, in line with ensemble means. After a cold start to the next week, temperatures will slowly moderate through the latter half of the forecast. - TAX && .AVIATION... Precipitation activity is really waning across area ports this morning. Satellite reveals a peeling back of the mid and upper- level cloud shields with some spotty stratus lingering in their wake. This will mainly impact DIJ and perhaps IDA for a few more hours before dissipating further. Improved conditions should then persist through midday with only spotty showers and isolated restrictions before a cold front and another round of snow arrives later this afternoon/evening. Impacts of this band of snow should be limited to PIH/IDA/DIJ, but cannot rule out at least some brief restrictions at BYI/SUN as well. Surface flow will once again be breezy today with gust across the Snake Plain nearing 25kts. - TAX && .HYDROLOGY... The greatest period of concern for flooding was the combination of moderate rain falling on melting snow yesterday afternoon into yesterday eve across the Flood Watch area. We have only received a couple reports of minor flood issues, generally in low-lying areas and where drains are clogged, with some elevated stream flows as well. Although a few showers are out there, a relative break is expected this morning (supported by current radar trends), with the next round of precipitation either starting as or quickly changing to snow along a cold front forecast to cross the region this afternoon and evening. Progressively falling dew points this morning may support this expectation of predominate snow, although the day is young. Although temperatures remain near or above freezing at this hour across portions of the eastern Magic Valley, Snake Plain, and southern highlands, additional snowmelt as modeled by NOHRSC guidance over the next 24 hours is expected to be very minor, generally a few hundredths of an inch. Thus, as the heaviest rain has ended, a break is expected this morning, few impacts have been reported, and little additional snowmelt is expected, we have gone ahead and cancelled the Flood Watch. Some ponding of water in low-lying areas and where drains are clogged may continue today. -KSmith/TAX && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until 5 PM MST this afternoon for IDZ060- 062>066-071>075. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
An avalanche two miles north of Ketchum nearly buried a house. It shattered all windows and made it inside the home. No serious injuries occurred.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, February 2019
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: 810256.