A strong late winter storm brought light snow, wind and led to impacts with road closures and the cancelation of a major sporting event.
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 strong late winter storm brought light snow, wind and led to impacts with road closures and the cancelation of a major sporting event.
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 Mar 20, 12:30 PM MST, 11 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 130 PM MDT Thu Mar 20 2025 .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Friday night. Wind advisories in the Snake River Plain and Arco Desert remain in effect until 6 pm this evening. Expect nothing more than light snow showers overnight in the mountains with little to no accumulation. Expect nothing more than light mountain snow showers and valley rain showers during the day on Friday. After midnight Friday night snow will become more widespread in the central mountains and eastern highlands. Amounts could reach 1 to 3 inches Friday night in the central mountains and eastern mountains with locally up to 6 inches above 7500 feet. Expect a mix or all rain in the Snake Plain and Eastern Magic Valley. Lows tonight will be in the teens to 20s mountains and upper 20s to lower 30s Snake River Plain. Highs Friday will be in the 30s mountains and 40s valleys. Winds will not be nearly as strong Friday but still expect an increase of upvalley winds to 10 to 20 mph in the Snake River Plain Friday afternoon. Lows Friday night in the 20s mountains and mid to upper 30s Snake Plain and Magic Valley. GK .LONG TERM...Saturday through next Thursday. Shortwave crossing well north of the area will shift quickly east through eastern Montana Saturday afternoon, taking with it most of the moisture lingering behind the departing system. Still enough moisture will hold around to fuel additional light snow showers across the higher elevations of the eastern highlands through the afternoon. The tight pressure gradient in place will ensure windy conditions will hold through Saturday with near Wind Advisory conditions expected in the Snake Plain, South Hills and Eastern Highlands. Sunday still looks like we transition fairly quickly from the continuous winter stormy pattern that we've been in to much more spring-like conditions as ensembles show high confidence of upper- level ridging over the western CONUS. This will effectively quell any chances of precipitation over southern and eastern Idaho from Sunday through Wednesday with temperatures building each day. By Tues/Weds we'll be 10-15 degrees above normals which will be within the neighborhood of breaking record high temperatures, which for Burley, Pocatello and Idaho Falls is in the low 70s. By Weds/Thurs morning the chances of remaining above-freezing for overnight lows is pretty high areawide. Given the building warmth and remaining snowpack in the low to mid-elevations, we should see increased melting and runoff into area creeks and streams. Larger rivers will be slower to react but its worth considering the potential for high water on some of the tributaries over the next week or two. TAX && .AVIATION... Midday satellite imagery showing a mix of clearing and clouds across the area. Some high clouds streaming through, but largely low to mid cu remain, centered over the higher elevation areas of the central mountains and eastern highlands. Ports in the Snake Plain - BYI, PIH, IDA - should continue to scatter out through the early evening. Perhaps the biggest impact remaining through the TAF period will be the remaining strong winds areawide. Gusts greater than 30kts are expected through the duration of the daylight hours, decreasing overnight. Tomorrow winds will blossom again, but not nearly as strong as we saw today. TAX && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until 6 PM MDT this evening for IDZ052>054. &&
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
734 PM MDT Thu Mar 20 2025
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0215 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 4 NNW Sterling 43.08N 112.78W
03/20/2025 M49 MPH Bingham ID Mesonet
Sterling ITD sensor.
0345 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 SE Albion 42.35N 113.52W
03/20/2025 M48 MPH Cassia ID Mesonet
Conner Summit ITD sensor.
0645 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 ENE Fort Hall 43.03N 112.41W
03/20/2025 M48 MPH Bingham ID Mesonet
Fort Hall ITD sensor.
0115 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 7 NNW Idahome 42.52N 113.43W
03/20/2025 M47 MPH Cassia ID Mesonet
Yale ITD sensor.
0500 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 NE Clementsville 43.88N 111.36W
03/20/2025 M46 MPH Teton ID Mesonet
Botts ITD sensor.
0615 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 3 N Taber 43.36N 112.64W
03/20/2025 M46 MPH Bingham ID Mesonet
Tilden Flats ITD sensor.
0600 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 SW Lund 42.63N 111.92W
03/20/2025 M45 MPH Caribou ID Mesonet
Fish Creek Summit ITD sensor.
0645 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 16 W Osgood 43.55N 112.42W
03/20/2025 M45 MPH Bonneville ID Mesonet
Kettle Butte ITD sensor.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
742 PM MDT Thu Mar 20 2025
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 AM Snow 1 ESE Ketchum 43.68N 114.36W
03/20/2025 M4.0 Inch Blaine ID CO-OP Observer
0400 PM Snow Mackay 43.91N 113.61W
03/20/2025 M2.0 Inch Custer ID CO-OP Observer
0700 AM Snow Stanley 44.22N 114.94W
03/20/2025 M1.8 Inch Custer ID CO-OP Observer
0800 AM Snow Bellevue 43.46N 114.26W
03/20/2025 M1.8 Inch Blaine ID Cocorahs
Cocorahs station ID-BN-3 Bellevue.
0900 AM Snow 2 S Sugar City 43.85N 111.75W
03/20/2025 M1.1 Inch Madison ID Cocorahs
Cocorahs station ID-MD-5 Sugar City 1.9 S.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter weather, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A strong cold front brought winds in excess of 50 mph to the area with power outages reported in the Blackfoot and Taber areas. Another report of a residential window broken by flying debris.
A strong cold front brought winds in excess of 50 mph to the area. Blowing snow impacted highway 26 leading to a closure of the highway from Ririe to Swan Valley. Multiple vehicle crashes reported prior to closing. An 18-wheeler jackknifed and damaged a guardrail. A box truck slid off the road and was on its side in ditch.
A strong cold front brought winds in excess of 50 mph to the area with power outages reported in the Idaho Falls area. Blowing snow impacted highway 26 leading to a closure of the highway from Ririe to Swan Valley. Multiple vehicle crashes reported prior to closing.
A strong cold front brought winds in excess of 50 mph to the area with a measured gust of 61 mph near Fish Creek Summit.
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, March 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: 1265266, 1265262, 1265264, 1265268.