Very light snow combined with strong winds to close many roads in extreme eastern Idaho on February 8th.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
Very light snow combined with strong winds to close many roads in extreme eastern Idaho on February 8th.
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 8, 2:22 AM MST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 222 AM MST Sat Feb 8 2020 .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Monday night. Early morning satellite imagery was showing the next upstream Pacific storm system digging ESE through Seattle with the associated precipitation shield already advancing through NE Oregon and the Idaho panhandle with the surface front. Numerical models show the storm system digging ESE through the NRN Rockies today and exiting SE of the region by Sunday morning. Ahead of the system, we expect to see freezing rain/drizzle in the Mud Lake region eastward through Ashton during the morning hours. In addition, increasing winds with the front will produce areas of blowing and drifting snow, primarily across INL and within the northern and eastern mountainous regions. The tricky part here is how much of a crust has formed due to the recent warm temperatures. We will also be adding snow to the mix today and this evening with a quick shot of 1 to 6 inches for the Stanley Basin and Eastern Highlands regions...elsewhere, snow accumulations should remain below half an inch. For now, wind and snowfall remain below advisory criteria but I wouldn't be surprised to hear of blowing snow issues across the eastern highlands today. By Sunday the ridge rebounds along the NW coast and SE Idaho is left in a colder northerly flow. The models paint mostly dry conditions for Sunday and then a hint of snow possible Monday as a clipper system dives SE through Montana on the east side of the upper ridge with little in the way of any significant impacts for SE Idaho. Huston .LONG TERM...Tuesday through next Saturday. While the long-term portion of the forecast has higher confidence in the overall pattern consisting of a continuation of cold northwest flow, there is considerable uncertainty regarding timing and strength details of embedded low pressure disturbances within the flow. Overall, odds favor the Tuesday-Wednesday timeframe being among the quietest days in the extended, with the potential for light snow shower activity favoring the Island Park area and northwest-facing slopes across the eastern highlands/WY border vicinity, with some of this activity perhaps lingering into Wednesday. Forecast guidance has been flopping around the past couple of days between indicating the presence of a strong area of low pressure during this time, to completely dry to what they're currently showing -- that being the light snow shower activity. Given this wide range of solutions, low confidence remains in this time period. The low confidence trend continues by late week into next weekend, with guidance bringing a relatively strong low pressure trough onshore late Thursday, then diverging with its evolution. Possibilities range from the trough strengthening into a low pressure system directly over Idaho Friday- Saturday to more of a progressive trough that only impacts the area Saturday. All that said, left the National Blend of Models solution untouched, which offers a compromise solution for now by painting snow shower chances in the mountains with lesser chances across the Snake Plain. AD && .AVIATION...Dry, breezy conditions are expected to persist through this morning with VFR conditions ahead of an approaching cold front from the northwest. Ahead of the front, SW winds will gradually increase through the morning hours, peaking just before the front's arrival, which is expected to be around 18Z at KSUN to 21Z at BYI and PIH. Winds should peak in the 20-30kt range. The wind direction forecast is more uncertain at KSUN, and with the late morning frontal passage, boundary layer winds switch to the NW, which should prevent the development of the typical diurnal up-valley flow. Instead, the development of west-southwest winds should occur prior to the front's arrival, with a switch to downvalley (310-330) degrees by early afternoon. In terms of snow shower potential, this will be highest at KDIJ and KSUN, but can't be ruled out at KIDA and KPIH, but confidence is lower here. MVFR conditions will be possible with any snow shower activity, mainly after 18Z. Winds will gradually shift to the north across the Snake Plain, mainly after 06Z Saturday night. AD && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Idaho Route 34 closed from Soda Springs to the Wyoming border due to 30 to 40 mph wind gusts.
Idaho Route 32 was closed from Tetonia to Ashton and Idaho Route 33 was closed from Newdale to Tetonia due to strong wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph causing extensive blowing and drifting snow.
Idaho route 33 was closed from Newdale to Tetonia due to wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph causing extensive blowing and drifting snow.
Idaho Route 34 was closed from Soda Springs to the Wyoming border due to 30 to 40 mph wind gusts causing extensive blowing and drifting snow making snow removal difficult.
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, February 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: 878169, 878170, 878173, 878175.