textproduct: Pocatello

KEY MESSAGES

- Light rain and snow showers in the mountains remain in the forecast today.

- Breezy wind gusts of 25-35 mph continue each afternoon.

- Major warming trend gets under way this week with increasingly likely record-high temperatures.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 224 AM MDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Northwest flow aloft continues over Eastern Idaho today, mainly bringing cloud cover to the area, but also some light (20-30%) precipitation chances to our higher elevations in the Central Mountains and Eastern Highlands. Checking area cameras early this morning does show some snowfall up around Stanley and the Willow Creek Summit, but roads remain clear so far. The NBM is showing a couple of inches of snow above pass levels, but less than 2" at and below pass levels in these spots. Breezy west winds are back again this afternoon with the strongest sustained winds around 20 to 25 mph and gusts of 25 to 35 mph in the eastern Magic Valley and lower Snake River Plain. Our warming trend begins today with highs reaching the upper 50s to low 60s in much of our lower elevations areas and staying in the 40s in our mid and higher elevation towns.

On Tuesday, precipitation chances decrease as a ridge of high pressure builds in over the Southwestern US. This will also kick our warming trend into a higher gear as highs will be almost 10 degrees warmer than this afternoon. With this ridge overhead for most of the week, we will see some near record-breaking temperatures as early as Tuesday and seem to be almost certain to break record highs on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons as we warm into the 70s to even some low 80s. For reference, record highs for Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Burley range from 69 to 71, to 72 respectively. The NBM shows a 100 percent chance for highs to exceed 70 degrees at all three locations on Wednesday and a 65 to 95 to 100 percent of exceeding 75 degrees at each location, respectively. The high pressure ridge remains in place through Friday before being flattened a bit on Saturday thanks to an approaching low off the coast of British Columbia, but this puts us more into zonal flow with moisture appearing to stay in northern and central Idaho, just outside of our forecast area, for the time being.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 531 AM MDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Northwest flow aloft today will keep around the small (20-30%) chance of snow showers at DIJ. So, have two PROB30 groups in the TAF there to account for a few periods of potential impacts, one early this morning and another later this evening. CIGs at DIJ have remain VFR, but have seen brief drops to IFR VIS at times as snow showers pass over the terminal. Elsewhere, conditions are expected to remain dry with only about a 10-20% chance of an isolated shower at SUN, so have left mention out of the TAF for now. Winds will be breezy again today, particularly at BYI, PIH, and IDA with gusts around 20-25 kts in the afternoon. Drier conditions return for Tuesday as we feel more influence from high pressure building over the Southwestern US.

PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.