Winter Storm — Big and Little Wood River Region, Idaho

2018-03-01 to 2018-03-03 · Big and Little Wood River Region, Idaho

Event narrative

A very powerful winter storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the Wood River Region. The storm caused a rare closing of Blaine County Schools on March 2nd. Snow amounts reported by COOP observers and spotters were the following: Hailey 19 inches, Picabo 17 inches, Bellevue 16 inches and Ketchum 20 inches. SNOTEL amounts were: Chocolate Gulch 23 inches, Dollarhide Summit 12 inches, Garfield Ranger Station 15 inches, Galena 21 inches, Galena Summit 35 inches, Hyndman 20 inches, Lost Wood Divide 23 inches, Swede Peak 38 inches and Vienna Mine 37 inches.

Wider weather episode

An extremely powerful Pacific storm system spread into the central mountains on March 1st and overspread all of southeast Idaho on the 2nd and continued in the far east through the 4th. Many mountain locations received over 2 feet of snow and even low elevations received 6 to 12 inches from the storm. Many road closures were reported most notably interstate 15 from Dubois to the Montana border on the 2nd.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 747583. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.