Hail — Lemhi, Idaho

2013-08-01 · near Salmon, Lemhi, Idaho

Event narrative

A very large right-moving & long-lived supercell developed across south-central Idaho and tracked north and east across northeastern Lemhi county. A trained spotter in Salmon, Idaho reported quarter size hail. Insurance companies reported at least 200 damage claims to both vehicles and homes from downtown, northwest Salmon and between Salmon and Carmen. An auto body reported fixing 15 passenger vehicles and 20 recreation vehicles caused by hail damage. The hail fell for at least 15 minutes damaging roofs, siding, stucco and windows. One person reported this was the worst storm she had seen in 42 years.

Wider weather episode

A 40 to 50 knot mid-level southwest jet maximum combined with unstable conditions over Lemhi County helped initiate a large supercell thunderstorm that brought wind and hail. As the main upper low over Washington and Oregon pushed eastward, thunderstorms developed over Idaho County. One of these storms brought heavy rain that triggered flash flooding over the Sheep Fire Burn area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.1800, -113.8900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 472135. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.