Severe thunderstorms were reported with damage in both Jefferson and Bonneville Counties.
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
Severe thunderstorms were reported with damage in both Jefferson and Bonneville Counties.
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 Apr 11, 1:03 PM MST, 1 hour 52 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 203 PM MDT Sat Apr 11 2020 .SHORT TERM (Tonight - Tuesday AM)... As was expected winds have really begun to ramp up this afternoon across the Magic Valley and lower Snake Plain. Numerous gusts above 50 mph have been observed as has some blowing dust on area webcams. These gusty winds will linger for another 12 hours or so with the strongest winds expected between now and sunset. Up the Snake Plain closer to Idaho Falls, not quite as windy yet but still expect to see some gustier winds and possible blowing dust in spots. Strong cold front still poised to move through the area later tonight bringing with it much colder temperatures for the next few days. Showers and a few thunderstorms will impact the eastern portion of the forecast area over the next few hours along and ahead of the main frontal boundary. Some robust convection continues to be depicted on some hi-res model solutions so a stronger thunderstorm or two isn't out of the question. Snow levels will plummet behind the front as the colder air filters in and some mountain snow of 1-4 inches will be possible. Looks like most of the precip in the valleys will be over before snow levels drop but a very brief period of light snow can't be ruled out. Sunday and Monday will be drastically colder with highs only reaching the 30s and 40s. Some light snow showers mainly across the higher terrain will be possible each day with colder N/NW flow aloft in place. Overnight lows will be quite cold Sunday and Monday nights perhaps nearing records in spots. NBM remains much warmer than most models so once again nudged overnight lows down about 5 degrees but still not as cold as some of the model guidance suggests. McKaughan .LONG TERM (Tuesday - Saturday)... For the upcoming week, a deep longwave trough will remain firmly entrenched over the central and eastern USA (perhaps weakening a bit by Fri). This places SE Idaho in a NW flow regime (and potentially active storm track) on the western edge of this trough. That said, no significant or high-impact events appear to be on the horizon. All of the long-range models do carry some periodic moisture in this flow, which may result in episodes of light snow showers over the mntns, especially each afternoon. Accumulations should be light. Increasing model agreement exists in an embedded shortwave enhancing this activity Wed/Wed night, possibly now extending into Thurs as well, right down into the Snake Plain (largely rain showers at lower elevations). QPF still appears light. Model agreement falls apart, however, from Thurs onward. The GFS, ECMWF, and Canadian all try to spin off another closed low near the Pacific coast Thurs/Fri, although it still remains too early to know if this feature will impact our CWA, or how it may interact with another possible shortwave dropping into the NW per the GFS/EC. Made very minimal adjustments/edits to NBM guidance. Below normal temps will gradually warm over the course of the week. - KSmith && .AVIATION... With cigs/vsbys largely VFR, we continue to expect the main aviation hazard will be strong winds through late this eve, especially for KBYI/KPIH/KIDA where a Wind Advisory remains in effect. SW to W winds at 20-30 knots, gusting over 40 knots, are already occurring and are expected to continue until shortly after the cold front passage (01z-04z). While trajectories will keep crosswind issues somewhat mitigated, the magnitude of the winds will pose a hazard especially to smaller aircraft, along with headwind/tailwind considerations. Blowing dust has initiated on area webcams from just east of KBYI to KPIH, but so far it is having little impact on vsbys at the terminals (currently 8SM at KPIH), and we maintain P6SM in the TAFs. We will monitor trends for any needed amendments. For KSUN, NW winds at up to 15G25KT are expected this afternoon, presenting a crosswind at the terminal. Showers and a few t-storms remain possible at KIDA and KDIJ, and VCTS at KPIH. - KSmith && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until 1 AM MDT Sunday for IDZ051-054>057. Wind Advisory until midnight MDT tonight for IDZ052-053. &&
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
152 PM MDT SAT APR 11 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1245 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 7 NNW IDAHOME 42.52N 113.42W
04/11/2020 M56 MPH CASSIA ID MESONET
MESONET STATION 3258. YALE INTERCHANGE.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
153 PM MDT SAT APR 11 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0120 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 NE ABERDEEN 42.95N 112.82W
04/11/2020 M52 MPH BINGHAM ID MESONET
MESONET STATION ABE.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
247 PM MDT SAT APR 11 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0145 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 7 NNW IDAHOME 42.52N 113.42W
04/11/2020 M58 MPH CASSIA ID MESONET
MESONET STATION 3258. YALE INTERCHANGE.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
248 PM MDT SAT APR 11 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0113 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 S MICHAUD 42.92N 112.57W
04/11/2020 M52 MPH POWER ID ASOS
ASOS STATION KPIH POCATELLO AIRPORT.
&&
KSMITHSpecial Weather Statement
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
303 PM MDT Sat Apr 11 2020
IDZ051>055-058-062>065-112200-
Eastern Magic Valley ID-Arco/Mud Lake Desert ID-
Big Hole Mountains ID-Upper Snake River Plain ID-
Marsh and Arbon Highlands ID-Shoshone/Lava Beds ID-Teton Valley ID-
Caribou Range ID-Blackfoot Mountains ID-Lower Snake River Plain ID-
303 PM MDT Sat Apr 11 2020
...LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM INL INTO THE EASTERN
HIGHLANDS MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST THROUGH 400 PM MDT...
At 259 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking a line of thunderstorms
extending from 7 miles southwest of Southwest INL to near Firth to
near Victor, moving east-southeast at 30 mph.
Brief moderate rain, frequent lightning, and wind gusts up to 50 mph
are possible with these storms as they move east-southeast across
Interstate 15 near Firth and into the Teton valley near Victor
through 4 PM MDT.
Locations impacted include...
Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, Driggs, Swan Valley, Ririe Reservoir,
Palisades Reservoir, Goshen, northern Blackfoot Reservoir, Ammon,
Shelley, Victor, Iona, Firth, Irwin, Atomic City, Rose, Southwest
Inl, Pingree, Fort Hall Eagle Lodge and Fort Hall Lincoln Creek
Lodge.
LAT...LON 4295 11148 4312 11289 4353 11342 4348 11223
4377 11105 4312 11105
TIME...MOT...LOC 2059Z 294DEG 24KT 4343 11316 4325 11212 4354 11118
HustonThe Pocatello radar (KSFX), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:54 UTC.
9 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Pine trees were snapped with shingles blown off a home. Occurred just north of Roberts.
A lightning strike to a power pole left 3,300 customers without power in Idaho Falls, Menan, Lewisville, Roberts, and Rigby.
Six foot by 8 foot section of shingles were blown off a roof.
A 1 foot in diameter tree was uprooted and damaged a fence and outbuilding.
A sheet metal roof on and outbuilding was blown off with wood built walls collapsing near N 3700 E just north of E 400 N between Rigby and Lewisville.
A tree was blown down onto a shed also taking down power lines near Rigby.
Three trees were reported downed at Rigby Community Presbyterian Church at N State Street and W 1st Street. No damage to the church was reported.
Thunderstorm winds caused major damage to vehicles at Tadd Jenkins Chevrolet in Rigby. Thunderstorm driven winds picked up rocks and shattered the windows on 15 vehicles with 20 to 30 other vehicles with other rock damage caused by the winds. Damage was estimated near 15,000 dollars.
Wooden stockade fences were blown over in Ririe.
A pine tree was snapped off near it's base 1 mile southeast of RIrie. Tree limbs and fences also torn down along 2nd St West but no major damage reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, April 2020
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: 890146, 890147, 890244, 890254, 890259, 890264, 890269, 890274, 890283, 890293.