Heavy Snow — Idaho Palouse, Idaho

2020-02-05 · Idaho Palouse, Idaho

Event narrative

A weather spotter 4 miles south of Viola reported 7.1 inches of new snow accumulation from this storm before turning to rain during the afternoon.

Wider weather episode

During the day of February 4th light snow developed along a stationary front laying west to east across central Washington and into the Idaho Panhandle. This first wave of moisture brought with generally light snow accumulations, but this snow melted and subsequently froze on roadways causing multiple collisions along interstate 90 and caused authorities to close the highway near Post Falls for 2 hours .

A second wave of deeper moisture enhanced along this boundary during the evening and overnight hours and brought heavy accumulations to the Idaho Palouse and Central Panhandle Mountains of north Idaho by the morning of February 5th when accumulating snow snow began to taper off or turn to rain. Valley snow accumulations of 4 to 6 inches were common near and along this stationary front, with lighter but still significant accumulations of 2 to 4 inches noted across the northern Idaho Panhandle.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 878844. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.