Thunderstorm Wind — Shoshone, Idaho

2011-12-29 · near Osburn, Shoshone, Idaho

Event narrative

Strong wind gusts knocked down at least four large trees in the town of Osburn, Idaho. The toppled trees caused extensive damage to a motor home, car, storage shed, car port, and patio cover. One tree clipped a house resulting in minor damage. Two roofs were completely blown off from primary residences and several other roofs were damaged. Several power poles and power-lines were damaged. The Nuckols RAWS, located at 4000 feet just outside the town of Osburn, measured sustained winds of 31 mph with gusts to 60 mph.

Wider weather episode

On the evening of the 28th into the early morning hours of the 29th, a low-level jet developed over the Idaho Panhandle ahead of a strong low pressure system tracking along the Washington / Canadian Border. Through midnight, the strong low-level winds remained decoupled from the valley floors with high wind gusts measured only along exposed ridgetops. Around midnight, a line of thunderstorms developed along the trailing cold front. A combination of descending air within the thunderstorm downdrafts along with terrain channeling was thought to be responsible for mixing the stronger winds aloft down to some valley locations within the Central Panhandle Mountains of Idaho. There were two reports of large trees toppled by these winds. Wind gusts within the zone ranged from 30 to 60 miles per hour with gusts near 60 miles per hour thought to be present where the trees were downed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.5000, -116.0000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 353252. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.