Snowmageddon 2.0? Here’s how much snow fell in Boise and when another 18 inches could come
Editor’s note: The forecast for this storm has changed. Here’s the latest information as of late Thursday morning.
Treasure Valley residents woke Wednesday morning to their first major snow of the year, as the first of several snowstorms blew through Southern Idaho.
Originally forecast to drop only 1-3 inches, Wednesday morning’s storm started at about 3:30 and dropped 5.2 inches in Boise by the time it moved east of the city at 8:30 a.m.
“We’re in a pattern right now where getting snow is a little easier than we normally see,” Jaret Rogers, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boise, told the Idaho Statesman on Wednesday morning.
“We’re in a pretty cold pattern,” he continued, “and we’re getting a lot of small storm systems coming from the northwest.”
But this is only the start for Boise. Initial forecasts predicted Boise would pick up about 9 inches of snow this week, but there’s now a possibility for the City of Trees to see up to 18 inches of snow from Thursday through Saturday night.
That total is on the high end, with low-end estimates sitting at around an additional 8 inches.
“We are looking at another pretty significant storm system. It’s going to be a long-duration event,” Rogers said. “It looks like the current information is Thursday will probably be the start of it, and then it can last through Saturday.”
The weather system could be reminiscent of the “Snowmageddon” event of 2017 when Boise picked up 21.5 inches of snow in January and a snow depth of 15 inches at the Boise Airport.
For those daring enough to head up to the slopes for fresh snow this week, the totals for the Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area are even more eye-popping. The ski area has seen 22 inches in the past week and could pick up 34-56 inches by the end of the weekend.
When will more snow fall in Boise?
Here’s the forecast for Boise as of Wednesday morning and how much snow is expected to fall en route to a potential 18 inches:
Wednesday: No significant snowfall expected the rest of the day
Thursday day: New snow accumulations less than an inch
Thursday night: New snow accumulations of 1-3 inches
Friday day: New snow accumulations of 2-4 inches
Friday night: New snow accumulations of 3-7 inches
Saturday day: New snow accumulations of 2-4 inches
This story was originally published January 10, 2024 at 10:41 AM.
