The Arco-Mud Lake Desert experienced very high winds behind a cold front.
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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.
The Arco-Mud Lake Desert experienced very high winds behind a cold front.
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 22, 11:39 AM MST, 21 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 1239 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Winter Weather Advisories are in effect for portions of the Central Idaho mountains. Winter weather advisories start at noon today for portions of the southeast and east highlands. - Wind Advisories go into effect at noon today for portions of the Snake River plain and eastern Magic Valley. - Afternoon highs drop 20 to 25 degrees from Tuesday highs and stay below normal through Monday. - Rain and high elevation snow continues into Friday for most. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 153 AM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026 Today through Fri night. Melted precipitation amounts peak during the day today as a cold front is pushed through the region by an upper level low moving through northeast OR that ends up in western MT by mid-day. A second low drops southward out of Canada and brings another round of precipitation for Thu with almost no break in the precipitation. The northwesterly air flow behind this low continues Thu night but shifts to westerly on Fri afternoon. Because of the below normal-but still warm-temperatures, snow levels continue high with moderate to heavy accumulations occurring somewhere between 6500ft and 7500ft elevation, depending on how far south. One fly in the ointment is how the precipitation is strongly affected by convection. There will be enough instability for thunderstorms each period in this portion of the forecast. This cold front is powered by a large temperature difference between the air masses. A drop of 20 to 25 deg F will occur between Tuesday and today. Afternoon highs stay below normal for the next 6 days, getting closer to normal next Tue. Overnight lows stay mild tonight with cloud cover, but as the cover thins on Thu night, lows drop into the 20s for a widespread area. This also continues through Fri night, then below 38 deg F for Sat night. Thus Freeze and later Frost Advisories may be needed for the agriculturally sensitive areas. Sat through Tue. Clusters continue to keep an upper level low either overhead of just to the east of the forecast area. This means the precipitation threat and colder than normal temperatures continue due to clouds and a northerly flow. By Sat a significant minority of the clusters show a far enough progression eastward for the risk of precipitation to fall to slight chance/chance level and temperatures at least to warm slightly, even if they stay mainly in the 50s for the heavily populated areas. Wind also is considerably less, with breezy conditions in the afternoon and early evening. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1228 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026 Cloudy, showery conditions in place across eastern Idaho terminals this afternoon. Temperatures have been cold enough to support snow at KSUN and KDIJ at times with the valley terminals just seeing a cold rain, with very gusty winds. Winds will continue in the 25-30 kt at KBYI, KIDA, and KPIH with gusts upwards of 40 kts possible at times. Not quite as strong at KSUN or KDIJ but still breezy. Precip will become more showery over the next few hours, hit-or miss in nature, before another more pronounced push of moisture moves into eastern Idaho during the overnight hours. It will likely be cold enough at this time to support at least RASN in the valley terminals if not all snow. Expect predominant MVFR CIGs through the period but certainly expecting some moments of low-end VFR with any brief clearing or even IFR with showers. In short, expecting messy and hard to forecast aviation conditions over the next 24 hours. && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until midnight MDT tonight for IDZ051>054. Winter Weather Advisory until midnight MDT Thursday night for IDZ060-063-064-066. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM MDT Thursday for IDZ069- 071>074. && DISCUSSION...Messick AVIATION...McKaughan
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several 60 plus mph wind gusts occurred with a max of 71 mph at Tom Cat Summit.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, April 2026
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: 1329974.