Flood — Kootenai, Idaho

2014-02-12 to 2014-02-14 · near Spirit Lake, Kootenai, Idaho

Event narrative

Heavy runoff led to several drive washouts for residents on hilly terrain across Kootenai County. A swollen Latour creek washed away a small levee and parcel of land that supported a shed at a private residence on South Latour Creek Road.

Wider weather episode

Numerous areas across the Idaho Panhandle dealt with flooding during the second week of February. While minor flooding is a common occurrence during the late winter months when warmer temperatures, wind, and rain fall on valley snowpack, there was one ingredient of this event that made it unique and rather intense for many locations. This was the intrusion of two Arctic air masses; one in December and one in February. These bitterly cold air masses arrived in the absence of valley snow pack and froze the ground hard and deep. Shortly after the second Arctic air mass, snow began falling across the region with anywhere between six and twelve inches of valley snowfall. Then came an atmospheric river. This drove temperatures and dewpoints above freezing, led to windy conditions, and brought moderate to heavy rainfall. Nearly all the valley snowpack melted in a span of 24 hours. Due to the rock hard ground, rain and snow melt could not percolate into the frozen ground equating to nearly 100 percent runoff. This led to big problems in hilly terrain, low spots, and areas susceptible to poor drainage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.9314, -117.0374)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 499269. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.