How much snow will Boise get this week? Could be as much as 9 inches. Here’s how, when
Boise’s largest winter storm stretch of the season so far was set to begin Monday night, with numerous widespread fronts moving across the Gem State throughout the week.
The National Weather Service in Boise said up to 9 inches of snow could fall between Monday night and the end of the week, with much of the snow in the latter half of the week likely to accumulate on surfaces such as roads.
The Weather Service posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, a graphic detailing how much snow parts of Idaho should expect between Monday morning and Saturday at noon.
The graphic indicated that Boise will receive about 7.3 inches through Saturday at around noon, but Weather Service meteorologist Les Colin told the Idaho Statesman that the capital city could receive another 1.5 inches Saturday evening and into Sunday morning.
Higher elevations will receive much more substantial totals — the Weather Service forecasts 34.4 inches falling at Bogus Basin and 38.2 inches at Brundage Mountain, welcome amounts considering the slow start to winter for ski areas.
Here’s how much snow will fall each day and when you can expect it to stick to surfaces and roadways.
Monday through Wednesday
The first snow was expected to bring about 1.1 inches by the Tuesday morning commute in the Treasure Valley. Temperatures will drop to 30 degrees overnight, meaning snow will stick to cooler surfaces like cars and grass.
But a daytime high temperature of 42 means any accumulated snow will melt and precipitation will transition to rain during the daytime hours. Snow will fall again as temperatures drop, starting at around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Snow will continue to fall throughout Tuesday evening and much of Wednesday despite temperatures increasing to 38 degrees during Tuesday daytime. The second wave of snow will stop late Wednesday night, having produced about 2 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
The Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday, warning of 1-3 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 45 mph. During the same time frame, it issued a blizzard warning for parts of Owyhee, Elmore and Camas counties, with snow and high winds causing whiteout conditions.
Falling temperatures and accumulation
Any snow that falls on Wednesday night will likely stick and stay around, because the high temperature on Thursday is forecast to be 33. Any melted snow and precipitation that fell as rain Wednesday will likely freeze for Thursday morning’s commute.
“The morning commute will be slightly below freezing; it looks like a low of 29,” Colin said. “So it looks like for the morning commute (Thursday), the roads will be snow-covered. And there may be some icy patches.”
Another wave of snow will then hit the Treasure Valley at around noon on Thursday. With temperatures remaining below freezing, all 2.9 inches of snow forecast to fall throughout the afternoon and evening should stick to the ground.
Final blast over the weekend
The Treasure Valley will enjoy a slight reprieve on Friday, with snow unlikely to fall. But a high temperature of 29 means the snow from the week won’t melt.
Colin, however, noted that there’s less confidence in the forecast temperature later in the week.
“The models are showing a very wide range of possibilities for temperatures once you get past Thursday,” Colin said. “It’s an extremely, extremely wide range of temperatures. I’ve never seen that wide, actually.”
If the temperatures stay below freezing, a final blast of snow will hit the area all day on Saturday, with about 1.5 inches by the afternoon.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 12:41 PM.
