textproduct: Pocatello

KEY MESSAGES

- Low clouds have returned across the region, with a few pockets of very light snow. The low clouds will remain a problematic forecast point into the weekend.

- Cooler for the weekend with isolated snow chances across the eastern highlands late today into early Sunday

- Continued dry conditions into next week with a warming trend likely, although valley inversions could wreck havoc with this.

UPDATE

Issued at 928 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

Observations and radar showing a region of very light snow falling out of the stratus deck. High clouds passing aloft may be interacting with the stratus in a seeder-feeder mechanism. Very light accumulations have already been observed, so have adjusted the forecast to increase the stratus coverage into mid afternoon, add light PoPs and minimal QPF to obtain small (<0.5") accumulations into the afternoon.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 324 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

A weak cold front has moved through the area and cold, drier northerly air is moving down the Snake River plain. Some models are now showing the northerly flow stalling somewhere around Pocatello this morning. So, stratus and patchy fog will likely continue over the Eastern Magic valley/Shoshone region this morning. Overnight lows in the Eastern Magic Valley/Shoshone region will likely be limited to the teens with cloud cover expected to linger. The area will remain dry however throughout the region tonight and into the afternoon hours on Saturday. For this morning, expect single digit temperatures and below zero for mountain areas for our northern areas. For today, expecting all areas to stay below freezing for daytime highs despite the fairly ample sunshine expected.

A weak shortwave will move into Central Montana and western Wyoming late today and into Sunday and this will likely increase cloud cover around the Island Park area and into the eastern highlands late tomorrow afternoon and evening. Could see some snow showers as well but not expecting much, if any, accumulation with these. Temperatures will remain colder than normal on Sunday with morning lows in the teens in the Snake Plain/Eastern Magic valley and single digits elsewhere. Daytime temperatures Sunday will generally be in the mid to upper 20s. There will be a few lower areas across our southwest that will see temperatures in the low 30s. Models are suggesting low stratus clearing out of the Eastern Magic valley late today into Sunday with stratus returning for our northeast areas with a weak wave moving down. There is not a lot of confidence in stratus clearing out of the Eastern Magic valley. Models are showing southwest flow to continue and move back up the Snake Plain. Southwest winds would be favorable for stratus to continue/return.

LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 108 PM MST Fri Jan 23 2026

In the wake of the aforementioned shortwave, upper level ridging is expected to again build across eastern Idaho. This will keep things dry for much of next week. A few weak impulses embedded in the upper flow aloft could bring some increased cloud cover but not expecting much chance for precip. The biggest forecast challenge will be whether or not we see a return of lower valley stratus. Based on what happened this week, it's certainly possible with the pattern being similar in nature. Current forecast does not show this however and has temps returning to the upper 30s and lower 40s in the lower valleys for much of next week. If stratus transpires though, temps will be much cooler. Time will tell.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1016 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

Stratus continues to be the bane of existence for some folks this morning. We have been seeing MVFR-IFR weather due to low ceilings mostly, with an added bonus of seeder feeder snow impacting PIH and potentially IDA. There is some optimism on seeing the stratus thinning out based on visual observation and trends in the higher resolution cloud cover forecasts, but confidence is low again on if it completely goes away in the next 24 hours. Trends show it eroding on the north and west sides today, with things eventually clearing out early this afternoon for SUN and BYI. We did keep some scattered low clouds around through tonight and tomorrow morning, which could be an issue for SUN when winds go variable and eventually southerly...meaning any lingering stratus wouldn't have far to travel to create issues this afternoon. Model trends eventually have enough westerly flow that once it erodes at BYI, it shouldn't come back. We will have to monitor to see if that really happens. At PIH and IDA, if we can remain or go scattered this afternoon, it may not last long. Again, model trends show stratus filling this evening through tomorrow morning. On top of that, we COULD see seeder feeder snow again which would drop conditions even lower. We have included IFR/LIFR weather during this period for both airports. For DIJ, we will actually see a weak "wave" drop along the Divide later tonight and tomorrow...and bringing light snow and low clouds to the airport starting this evening. We did drop them to MVFR/high end IFR for now. With light winds, it may not take much to drop them well into IFR if snow is heavy enough. The forecast for here may turn out to be the highest confidence TAF during the period.

PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.