textproduct: Pocatello

KEY MESSAGES

- Winter Weather Advisories start late tonight in the central Idaho mountains, Wednesday afternoon in the eastern and southeastern highlands.

- Wind Advisories in the Arco Desert-Mud Lake region and Beaverhead-Lemhi highlands.

- Snow Wednesday night and Thursday morning down to Snake River plain elevations.

- Well below freezing temperatures Thursday and Friday nights.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1250 PM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

Tonight through Fri will be payback for the mild winter eastern Idaho had experienced for the most part. Incoming low with a vigorous cold front will bring moderate to heavy snow in the high elevations, and lighter snow below about 6500ft elevation. Based on current temperature expectations, the snow above 7000ft elevation in the central Idaho mountains will be moderate to heavy up to 8500ft elevation. Lighter snow below that. Most affected zones are in the southern end, where the southwest flow has its best precipitation production. Elsewhere, moderate to heavy accumulations above 6500ft elevation should occur in the Island Park region in the northeast corner, and in the Bear River Range down at the Utah border. Elsewhere, expect light to moderate snowfall. Wed night and Thu morning will also bring some light snow to the Snake River plain/eastern Magic Valley, but it should stay below 2 inches and melt at least partially on Thu afternoon and completely by Fri afternoon.

Temperatures will remain mild with the increase in cloud cover tonight and the southerly air flow, but a strong cool down is expected in highs and lows, with winter like overnight lows in the single digits and teens, and lower to middle 20s in the Snake River plain/eastern Magic Valley for Thu night.

Finally, this storm and its surface cold front will bring strong wind that will produce windy to very windy conditions Wed afternoon and evening in the Arco Desert and Mud Lake region. It will extend northward into the Lemhi highlands for a portion of that time as well. On Thu, the high wind will shift southward as the wind shifts to northwesterly and so there will be better alignment in the eastern Magic Valley and lower Snake River plain. At least windy conditions (20 to 30 mph with gusts staying below 45 mph) should redevelop on Fri afternoon in these lower elevations.

Fri night through next Tue afternoon...A transient upper level ridge moves in at the beginning of this period, allowing strong warming on Sat and Sun. There is a 60-40 split on if this ridge will break down on Sun night, with 60 percent of the clusters saying no. But by Mon afternoon the trough should pass through, bringing more rain and overnight high elevation snow that lasts to the end of the forecast week.

Overnight lows appear to say 5 to 10 deg F below normal for the time of year through Sun night, so it will be no time to plant your garden. The shift to southwest flow and the return of cloud cover warms up overnight lows on Mon night. And despite the cloud cover, temperatures in the southerly air flow continue to warm for Mon and Tue.

Afternoon wind continues breezy to windy during the afternoons, with Sat being the lightest.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1136 AM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

Widespread lower clouds continue to decrease, although we are pockets of low and mid clouds moving through central and eastern Idaho. We may be in and out of MVFR/IFR conditions for the lower clouds for a little while this afternoon. We will see low clouds returning early to mid morning Wednesday, as the next storm arrives. We should stay VFR or flirt with high end MVFR at PIH, IDA, and BYI as any precipitation and lower FR weather arriving in the afternoon. At DIJ, we are expecting VCSH with the same ceiling issues during that period. We do expect a mix of rain and snow to impact SUN not too long after sunrise and continue through the rest of the day, with a likely full switchover during the afternoon. We are expecting MVFR to IFR conditions impacting the airport once the precipitation arrives. The other concern will be increasing wind with gusts of 15-30kts tomorrow, strongest at PIH and especially IDA. This will be outside of any showers, storms, or bands of precipitation that form.

PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Wind Advisory from 11 AM to 9 PM MDT Wednesday for IDZ052-067. Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM Wednesday to 6 AM MDT Friday for IDZ060-066. Winter Weather Advisory from midnight tonight to noon MDT Thursday for IDZ071>074.