A Pacific storm system brought heavy snow to parts of southeast Idaho on the 13th and 14th which resulted in some school closures.
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.
A Pacific storm system brought heavy snow to parts of southeast Idaho on the 13th and 14th which resulted in some school closures.
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 13, 1:25 AM MST, 10 hours 35 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 125 AM MST Thu Feb 13 2025 .SHORT TERM...Today and Friday. The main impacts this morning will be extreme wind chills this morning over a good chunk of central and eastern Idaho. The "warmest" wind chills will be across the Lower Snake Plain, Magic Valley and valleys south toward the Utah border at 0 to -15. Elsewhere wind chills will be from -20 to -35. We currently have an EXTREME COLD WARNING across the Shoshone Lava Beds, Arco Desert and Upper Plain where we are hitting criteria of -20 or lower. There are pockets of wind chills below -30 in the mountains BUT not enough to trigger a headline. Our attention quickly turns to a quick hitting storm, but one that is bringing a lot of moisture with it. The event is a bit complicated, so we will try and simplify it as much as we can here. With colder temperatures, snowfall will be more fluffy and easier to blow around. By later this afternoon and tonight, warmer temperatures will turn that snow from fluffy in lower elevations to a wetter snow...especially where temperatures will be closer to freezing this afternoon and tonight. Southerly flow will produce some downslope effects from Pocatello westward, and for the mountains/highlands farther north toward the Montana border. To make things even more fun, warmer air just above the ground will create pockets of light freezing rain across the Lower Plain, Magic Valley, and southern valleys adjacent to the Snake Plain. It won't be much, but will add to the expected slick conditions. We can also expect some blowing snow, even at lower elevations. As we head into Friday, temperatures will continue to warm up. Many lower valleys will finally see temperatures, and in fact some places across the Snake Plain, Magic Valley, and valleys toward the Utah border (minus Bear Lake), will jump well above 40 degrees. This will produce a messy situation as some valleys will be rain, some a mix, and some staying with slushy snow. Higher elevations will remain snow but that will become more of a wet snow with warmer temperatures. We have a variety of headlines out. The areas with the LEAST amount of snow will be around Burley and Raft River south (due to warmer temperatures and downslope winds) with 1 to 3 inches at lower elevations and 6" or higher in the mountains. Similar amounts are expected across the mountains and highlands closer to the Montana border EXCEPT around Island Park due to downslope conditions and overall less moisture to work with. Across the rest of the Snake Plain and Magic Valley, look for 4-8" with closer to 1 foot across the INL, Craters, and Shoshone Lava Beds. For the Wood River Valley and surrounding mountains, 6-12" will be common with locally higher amounts. For the Sawtooths and Stanley Basin, up to 6" in the Basin and 12"+ for the Sawtooths and surrounding ranges. For the eastern and southeast highlands, look for up to 7" in some valley locations, and 12-24" in the mountains. Snow will taper off Friday night, but continue mostly along and east of I-15. Keyes .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday night. Clusters indicate similar timing through Mon afternoon. The winter storm at the end of the near term period ends during the day Sat, then Sun appears to be a brief low amplitude upper level ridge. But the weather pattern is very progressive, and it does not last. By Mon afternoon most clusters have a trough moving in from Canada, about 83 percent of them. The minority indicates that the trough will be farther east and not affect the forecast area. There is more uncertainty with Tue; there is about a 50-50 split in how the next trough is handled, with one moving again into the northern Rockies and Great Basin. But the other half keeps this trough much farther east. By Wed most of the clusters have this upper level trough farther east, but 13 percent of the solutions keep upper level troughing over the northern Rockies. What is curious is that the latest NBM has the highest PoPs on Sun, which just is not seen in these clusters, so there is a high uncertainty in what will really happen. One thing that can be said is that each 12 hour period has some sort of precipitation threat. This should mean cloud cover and no return of extreme cold. However, there does not appear to be a subtropical connection, so temperatures also will not be super warm. Messick && .AVIATION...A wall of deep moisture arrives from west to east today from 18Z through 22Z at each of the five airdromes. This wall will come with primarily snow at KPIH, KIDA,KSUN, and KDIJ. VSBYs will be IFR or worse with CIGs less affected, most at marginal VFR. KBYI may start as SN, but appears to change over to rain early. For the early evening, the threat of SN changing to RA or possibly FZRA at KBYI and KPIH will be another serious impact. Wind will be gusty at KBYI but gusts should be to around 25KT. Messick && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Extreme Cold Warning until 10 AM MST this morning for IDZ051>053. Winter Storm Warning from 11 AM this morning to 5 PM MST Friday for IDZ051>055-058>066-073>075. Winter Weather Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 5 PM MST Friday for IDZ056-057-067>072. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A total of 9.5 inches of snow was recorded in Montpelier.
A total of 10 inches of snow was measured in Franklin.
Nine inches of snow fell in Soda Springs.
The Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 and the Snake River School District were closed due to snow and wind conditions on February 14th. Four to 6 inches of snow were widespread in the region on the 13th into the morning of the 14th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, February 2025
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: 1268628, 1268630, 1268635, 1268638.