Bundle up, Boise: Weather Service predicts a little more snow, a whole lot of cold
If you’re seeing red over all of the white in Boise and the Treasure Valley, better get used to it.
Snowfall was expected to accumulate up to 4 inches Wednesday, with an additional inch or so possible on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
And with extremely cold temperatures forecast as Idaho rings in the new year, the snow is not going anywhere.
Treasure Valley residents should be bundling up this weekend as they say goodbye to 2021, said Sofia Adams, a meteorologist with Boise’s National Weather Service office. Adams said temperatures in the Boise area will top out in the high 20s this weekend, with lows in the single digits.
Adams said about 1.5 inches had fallen at the Boise Airport by early Wednesday afternoon, and the Weather Service was expecting 2-4 inches by the end of the day. Another storm then will move into Boise on Thursday after a brief break from the snow on Wednesday night, Adams said. Snowfall from that will be 1-3 inches, with large accumulations expected in the mountains.
The storms this week are great news for the state’s ski resorts. Bogus Basin has gotten 6 inches of fresh powder in the past 24 hours, it said in a snow report email, and now has a base depth of about 45 inches.
Sun Valley and Brundage Mountain each have received more than a foot of fresh snow the past two days, and both resorts have base depths exceeding 40 inches. Tamarack has gotten 11 inches of snow in the past 48 hours.
All three of those ski areas are expected to get more snow the next two days, as well as very cold weather, with lows below zero.
Weather-related traffic
Idaho State Police were busy Wednesday morning with multiple weather-related slide-offs and crashes, said Lynn Hightower, spokesperson for ISP.
Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., troopers responded to 22 crashes and 14 slide-offs from the Oregon border into Elmore County, Hightower said. Any injuries were minor.
“Troopers say take it slow and easy, keep as much distance between vehicles as you can and be alert to what’s happening in front of you to give yourself as much time to react as possible,” Hightower said in an email.
ISP also reminded drivers to slow down and move over when emergency vehicles are approaching.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 2:56 PM.
