A long period of 50 plus mph wind gusts occurred throughout the Arco-Mud Lake Desert region. The peak gust of 73 mph occurred at East Butte with 58 mph at Monteview and Tom Cat Summit.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 long period of 50 plus mph wind gusts occurred throughout the Arco-Mud Lake Desert region. The peak gust of 73 mph occurred at East Butte with 58 mph at Monteview and Tom Cat Summit.
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 13, 10:34 AM MST, 26 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 1134 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Strong winds continue through Saturday - Periods of light mountain snow will persist through Saturday, primarily above 6000 ft, leading to occasional winter travel conditions on a few area passes. - A major warming trend arrives next week. Valley temperatures will likely reach the 70s by mid week, and some areas could see 80 degree highs. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 1208 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026 The wind machine remains activated through the next 48 hours. Winds will be lighter today, with gusts 25-35 mph common across the area. Higher gusts today will be in the 35-50 mph range, across higher elevations and most of the Snake Plain and Magic Valley. We have a WIND ADVISORY for the Snake Plain from late morning through around sunset. We will see a break in the wind tonight, but still expect it to be breezy. Winds will slowly ramp up in the morning, with them peaking in the afternoon. We may see winds in some areas a bit subdued in the morning despite strong winds off the surface increasing, and the pressure gradient tightening. This due to clouds and showers holding things up a bit. If we can get clearing earlier in the day, expect high winds sooner. Widespread gusts of 30-55 mph are forecast. Gusts up to 65 mph are expected across the Snake Plain, Magic Valley, adjacent bench areas, South Hills/Albion Mountains, and central mountains. There is a 20-40% chance of exceeding 75 mph across portions of the central mountains, the South Hills/Albion Mountains. We will definitely need another round of WIND ADVISORIES and HIGH WIND WARNINGS for Saturday. We will hold off until later today to see how we want to arrange those headlines. As the low races southeast, winds will quickly turn northwest but remain pretty strong until after midnight. We are still watching some light precipitation falling across portions of the central mountains and eastern highlands. Most of this is falling across the Sawtooths and surrounding ranges, mountains around Island Park into Yellowstone and Tetons. We will see an uptick tomorrow as the low races across our area, but nothing too outlandish in any give 6 hour period. We did decrease some of the precipitation amounts across the central mountains, as higher resolution models were producing unrealistic amounts even with a strong upslope component for higher ridgelines. We will need to watch tomorrow night as we will see a convergence band race south, along and east of I-15. Additional precipitation amounts of 0.20-0.50" are possible in the eastern and southeast highlands. Higher amounts are possible along the Wyoming border into the Tetons. The bulk of the moisture in the central mountains falls from Galena Summit north and west, where 0.40-1.0" is forecast. There is a 10-30% chance of over 1.0" to fall across highest peaks and ridgelines. Additional snowfall will be light, although along the spine of the Sawtooths and Salmon River Mountains another 12+" is possible. By Sunday, a strong ridge builds over the West, leading to high confidence in a sharp warming trend starting Monday. There is a 55% chance of reaching 70 degrees for highs across the Snake Plain by Tuesday, and at least a 45% chance of reaching 80 degrees south and west of Blackfoot by Wednesday and Thursday. Daily record highs will likely be challenged starting Tuesday. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/... Issued at 1133 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026 Wind, wind, and more wind. Sounds like a broken record, but the wind remains the biggest impact to aviation once again today and even more so tomorrow. We are already seeing gusts of 25-35 kts at DIJ and IDA and expect PIH, BYI, and SUN to join in with those gusts sooner rather than later as we approach the early afternoon hours. As the cold front blows through on Saturday, we are expecting some precipitation at most of our sites. Temperatures look warm enough to be all rain on Saturday, but can't rule out some -RASN at DIJ and SUN where temperatures will be just above 32 degrees. Lower clouds will move through with the front and precipitation, but the NBM only shows a 20 to 30 percent chance of MVFR CIGs so will go with SCT clouds at/near MVFR. The NBM also shows a 20 to 30 percent chance of MVFR VIS at DIJ, so will hold off on really tanking them for now, but we do seem a bit more likely to have MVFR conditions there. The other bit of a wild card will be blowing dust on Saturday. There is a 60 to 90 percent chance of gusts greater than 48 kts at BYI, PIH, and IDA on Saturday so we expect to see some blowing dust around IDA and PIH once again, though impacts of BLDU were minimal on Thursday. There is a 30 to 50 percent chance of gusts greater than 48 kts at DIJ and SUN on Saturday. && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until 9 PM MDT this evening for IDZ052>054-065. && DISCUSSION...DMH/Keyes AVIATION...AMM
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
1018 AM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0200 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 2 NNE Rockford 43.20N 112.53W
03/12/2026 Bingham ID Public
Image on social media of roof blown off
chicken coop and report of fences blown over
at farm. Time estimated based on peak gusts
at Blackfoot ARL site and Tilden Flats ITD
site.
&&
AMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A long period of 50 plus mph wind gusts occurred throughout the Arco-Mud Lake Desert region. The peak gust of 73 mph occurred at East Butte with 58 mph at Monteview and 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, March 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: 1327476.