Winter Storm — Big and Little Wood River Region, Idaho

2017-01-07 to 2017-01-11 · Big and Little Wood River Region, Idaho

Event narrative

A massive Pacific Storm brought heavy snow for over 4 days to the Big and Little Wood River region. Snow amounts recorded by COOP observers were 33 inches in Bellevue, 29 inches in Picabo, and 37.5 inches in Ketchum. The snow depth at the Ketchum Ranger Station reached 53 inches at the end of the event. Several avalanches closed Warm Springs Road west of Ketchum on the 9th as well as Highway 75 north of Galena. SNOTEL amounts were the following: 47 inches at Chocolate Gulch, 67 inches at Dollarhide Summit, 36 inches at Garfield Ranger Station, 46 inches at Galena, 41 inches at Galena Summit, 39 inches at Hyndman, 62 inches at Lost Wood Divide, 46 inches at Swede Peak, and 71 inches at Vienna Mine.

Wider weather episode

A long dawn out atmospheric river event brought a variety of impacts to southeast Idaho including extremely heavy mountain snow, valley snow then rain on snow leading to flooding and roads covered with ice in the Snake River Plain, and many mountain avalanches. Many roads were closed for extended periods due to the heavy snow and avalanches. Custer County was declared a disaster area due to the prodigious snow amounts. An emergency declaration was signed in Cassia County due to the flooding.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 676995. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.