A strong cold front brought very strong winds to southeast and central Idaho which caused blowing dust and closed roadways. Power outages occurred and wind gusts ranging from 50 to 75 mph were widespread.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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.
A strong cold front brought very strong winds to southeast and central Idaho which caused blowing dust and closed roadways. Power outages occurred and wind gusts ranging from 50 to 75 mph were widespread. Some trees were downed in the event as well.
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 May 6, 1:31 AM MST, 9 hours 29 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 231 AM MDT Wed May 6 2020 .SHORT TERM...Today through Friday night. Satellite imagery is showing a strong shortwave making landfall this morning with low- amplitude ridging downstream. Still expecting a strong, but relatively dry, surface cold front to push through this afternoon. Models are still pushing for a very tight gradient behind the front. Winds remain the primary concern for this afternoon and evening, though MOS guidance has dropped the overall wind forecast slightly. We still anticipate seeing some areas of blowing dust resulting from the strong winds, and this should be most pronounced along Interstate 15 north of Idaho Falls and along Interstate 86 around American Falls down to around the Raft River area. Current headlines cover the wind and blowing dust fairly well, and no changes are expected there. However, in the post- frontal airmass, temperatures will cool late tonight/Thursday morning and lows may drop below freezing in the Snake Plain for a few hours. Fair weather is expected for most of the region Thursday and Friday, though shortwaves embedded in a northwesterly upper-level flow will clip the Island Park area, which may trigger some showers in that area. Hinsberger .LONG TERM...Sat through Tue night. Upper level ridge will keep the weekend dry and clear with warming temperatures, but a big change comes Mon morning and continues to the end of the period. A deep low nearly stationary off the coast of OR brings up moisture that interacts with some weak troughs that move through the northern branch of the jet which sags into northern Montana. There is enough moisture and enough heating despite the cloudiness that afternoon instability will generate showers and thunderstorms, mainly over the eastern highlands and central Idaho mountains. The upper level wind supports Wind Advisory-level wind for Tue, and that is when the strongest trough moves through southwest Montana, so showers and thunderstorms have better coverage on Tue compared to Mon. With the clouds, there is a cooling, with Tue night possibly being another Frost or Freeze morning. Messick && .AVIATION...No CIG or VSBY issues (broken high or mid-level clouds only at worst) in spite of a front sweeping through today. The low and associated cold front are so dry that SHRA and TSRA are limited to the northern end of the central Idaho mountains (far from KSUN) and along the ID-MT border and northern half of the ID-WY border (including KDIJ). The big feature today is the wind expected with the front. GFS MOS is going for an unprecedented 40KT sustained wind for the mid and late afternoon at KPIH. The NAM MOS is not far behind with 30KT. Both of those values are very rare this early in a MOS forecast. So there could be some strong LLWS, mainly speed shear, especially late morning to early afternoon. Wind of this strength makes KSUN the most difficult forecast--will the strong wind be able to surface in the Wood River canyon? The HRRR usually underforecasts speed and it is showing wind in excess of 20KT, so will have wind in that forecast. Since the feature is moving west to east across the Gem State, expect wind to start first in KBYI/KSUN, and last at KDIJ, with subsidence following a similar pattern. Messick && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Blowing Dust Advisory from noon today to 10 PM MDT this evening for IDZ053-054. High Wind Warning from noon today to 10 PM MDT this evening for IDZ051>055-057. Wind Advisory from noon today to 10 PM MDT this evening for IDZ056-058-059-062-067-068-070-075. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Between 2 and 4 pm MDT several mesonet sites in the Arco and Mud Lake desert region recorded wind gusts over 60 mph with the highest reaching 74 mph at the Telegraph Hill site.
Wind gusts reached 68 mph in Roberts with widespread 50 to 70 mph gusts. Interstate 15 closed at 1:58 PM MDT from Idaho Falls to Roberts between exit 118 and exit 143 due to blowing dust and zero visibility. Four miles south of Lewisville a downed power line was reported with a tree blocking the road near 3431 E and 100 N near the Grant Church. Power poles were reported arcing in Ririe. Three miles west of Egin a tree fell on a house with power lines wrapped in the tree. A semi-trailer was blown over on Idaho Route 33 near Teton. Idaho Route 33 shut down from Newdale to Tetonia due to zero visibility and blowing dust. Power lines were downed in Parker at 133 East Main. A tree was downed at 205 West Main in Saint Anthony. 1200 customers lost their power in the event.
Interstate 86 closed between milepost 40 and milepost 52 east of American Falls at 1:54 PM due to zero visibility in blowing dust. Winds gusted between 50 and 60 mph from noon to 7 pm. Two accidents occurred on the interstate within the closed area.
Widespread wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph occurred and Idaho Highway 27 was closed due to zero visibility caused by blowing dust from Burley to Oakley.
A wind gust of 70 mph was measured near Clementsville. Idaho Highway 32 was shut down from Tetonia to Ashton and Idaho Highway 33 was shut down from Newdale to Tetonia due to blowing dust and zero visibility. Both were shut down around 4:30 PM MDT.
Multiple wind gusts of 65 to 70 mph were measured on interstate 15 one mile south of Dubois.
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, May 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: 891683, 891693, 891704, 891716, 891717, 891718.