textproduct: Pocatello

KEY MESSAGES

- Wind advisories are in effect until 9 pm for much of the Snake River Plain and eastern Magic Valley

- Humidity below 15 percent will combine with this wind to create critical fire weather conditions that could lead to extreme fire behavior should a fire become established. A Red Flag Warning is in effect until 9 PM MDT for the affected area, which includes the fire weather zones that contain the Snake River and all zones south or east of the River, to the WY and UT/NV borders.

- Will have windy conditions Wednesday. Low humidity will recur Wednesday for similar weather hazards on Wednesday and Wednesday evening.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 126 PM MDT Tue Jun 16 2026

Main impact will be the winds both this afternoon and again on Wednesday. Wind advisories are in effect for much of the Snake Plain and Eastern Magic Valley. Expect gusts 35 to 45 mph much of this afternoon and evening. Winds not expected to be quite as strong Wednesday other than the Shoshone Lava Bed region and Eastern Magic Valley, but will be breezy throughout southeast Idaho once again. Will likely see a few wind advisories and Red Flag Warnings once again. Will be slightly cooler Wednesday but highs still 70s mountains and 80s valleys. Winds will be much lighter Thursday mainly under 10 mph across the region. Highs again in the 70s and 80s. Friday will potentially some high temperatures into the lower 90s in the valleys once again.

The pattern will change a bit over the weekend as an upper level wave will move through and return the chance for showers and thunderstorms Saturday into Sunday morning. Near normal temperatures with 70s to lower 80s in more cloud cover. Dry conditions return next week Monday into Tuesday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 433 PM MDT Tue Jun 16 2026

The main issue will be gusty winds persisting across central and eastern Idaho. We will see them subside somewhat overnight, but some gusts in the 15-25kt range are possible. Speeds will ramp up again by afternoon, gusts of 20-35kts are possible. We are actually looking at a general repeat at SUN tomorrow afternoon where a strong westerly crosswind will impact the airport.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 433 PM MDT Tue Jun 16 2026

RED FLAG WARNING continues for our Fire Weather Zones 410, 413, 425, and 427 due to gusty winds and low RHs as a dry cold front sweeps through the area over the 24 hours. Given that Wednesday's forecast will be nearly a repeat of today, look for another RED FLAG WARNING to be issued this evening once today's ends.

Wind gusts for this afternoon will range from 35 to 45 mph across much of eastern Idaho with min RHs this afternoon around 10 to 15 percent in the eastern Magic Valley, South Hills, and lower Snake River Plain. For Wednesday afternoon, min RHs will drop a couple of percentage points and wind gusts will be just a bit lighter, but still generally 30 to 40 mph with so locally higher gusts in the eastern Magic Valley and South Hills, hence the RED FLAG WARNING on Wednesday. Outside of the RFW areas, we sill see near critical fire weather conditions throughout the Central Mountains in zones 422, 475, and 476. There will be pockets of min RHs around 10 to 15 percent and gusty winds around 25 mph, but it's not quite widespread enough to add it into the RFW for Wednesday.

By Thursday and Friday we finally get a break from our gusty winds, but we will be watching a trough entering our CWA on Saturday that will bring increasing shower and thunderstorm chances.

PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Wind Advisory until 9 PM MDT this evening for IDZ051>055. Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for IDZ410-413- 425-427.