High Wind — Southern Hills-albion Mountains, Idaho

2022-12-21 to 2022-12-22 · Southern Hills-albion Mountains, Idaho

Event narrative

The Cotton Ridge RAWS site recorded an 80 mph wind gust at 8:17 AM on the 21st. Gusts between 60 and 70 mph were widespread.

Wider weather episode

An extremely strong Pacific cold front brought wind gusts in the 50 to 80 mph range with localized blizzard conditions in the mountains and then extremely cold wind chills followed behind an arctic cold frontal passage. Snow amounts in the mountains were generally light and mainly in the 1 to 5 inch range but the combination with the wind brought many road closures to extreme eastern Idaho on the 21st into the 22nd. Some school closures occurred on the 21st and 22nd.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1071868. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.