25Sep 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

NOAA predicts warmer, drier winter in Idaho

Idaho News
By Greg Foley; Idaho Mountain Express The Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service is predicting warmer and drier conditions in Idaho during the heart of the winter.Map courtesy of NOAA. Return of El Niño likely to influence nation’s weather in different ways, agency states The weather in the Northwest is likely to be warmer and drier than normal this coming winter, possibly leaving skiers and other outdoor enthusiasts longing for the heavy snowfalls of last year. That’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, which released a set of official long-range weather forecasts on Thursday. The forecast maps for the heart of the winter—December, January and February—indicate above-normal temperatures for most of the northern part of the…
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12May 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

Local elementary students learn everything about H2O at Water Awareness Festival

Idaho News
By Seth Ratliff; Local News 8 IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Organized mayhem at Tautphaus Park as fifth and sixth graders gather for the Water Awareness Week Festival. The event was put on by the Department of Environmental Quality to teach kids the importance of water while having an explosive good time. "The hopes is that they can they can see how fun science is," DEQ scientist Rick Jensen said. "Understanding the special properties that water has and that it really is a special resource and worth preserving." The festival included presentations and activities from the National Weather Service, Idaho Departments of Environmental Quality, Water Resources, and Fish & Game and more. "It's really effective for us to come and  reach a lot of kids at once..." Fish and Game…
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05Apr 2023 by Nicole Rinaldi

HISTORIC SNOWFALL: Relentless storm dumps as much as 20 inches of snow on Pocatello area, causes police to plead with motorists to stay off roads

Idaho News
By Journal Staff; Idaho State Journal The National Weather Service is describing the snowstorm that has thus far dumped as much as 20 inches of snow on the Pocatello area as a historic event. The storm arrived early Monday evening and has caused numerous wrecks on local roads, resulted in the city of Pocatello and Bannock County shutting down non-essential services and buildings, and prompted Pocatello police to repeatedly plead with motorists to stay home and refrain from driving until conditions improve. Thanks to the storm, this winter is now among the top five snowiest ever in Pocatello, the National Weather Service said. As of Tuesday afternoon, just over 71 inches of snow has fallen in Pocatello this winter. That’s about 22 inches shy of breaking the city’s all-time snow…
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10Aug 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Idaho drought likely to linger into new water year

Idaho News
By Brad Carlson; Capital Press Much of Idaho likely will remain in some level of drought when the water year ends on Sept. 30. Erin Whorton, a water supply specialist at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Boise, said about 68% of the state is drier than normal, and 45% remains in moderate to severe drought. Some relief came with the wet weather last spring. But the hot, dry summer in much of the state leaves little time to make up ground before the water year ends, she said. The dry pattern “really doesn’t let us get out of drought until we get into the wetter fall and winter months,” Wharton said. She said that to end drought by Sept. 30, Idaho needs between 96% and 317% of normal…
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07Jul 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Yellowstone flooding reveals forecast flaws as climate warms

National News
By Matthew Brown and Amy Beth Hanson; Associated Press A house sits in Rock Creek after floodwaters washed away a road and a bridge in Red Lodge, Mont., on June 15, 2022. As cleanup from historic floods at Yellowstone National Park grinds on, climate experts and meteorologists say the gap between the destruction in the area and what was forecast underscores a troublesome trend tied to climate change: Modeling programs used to predict storms aren't keeping up with increasingly extreme weather. (AP Photo/David Goldman) BILLINGS, Montana (AP) — The Yellowstone National Park area’s weather forecast the morning of June 12 seemed fairly tame: warmer temperatures and rain showers would accelerate mountain snow melt and could produce “minor flooding.” A National Weather Service bulletin recommended moving livestock from low-lying areas but…
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03May 2022 by Nicole Rinaldi

Drought conditions improving with recent rainfalls

Idaho News
By Corey Evan; Independent Enterprise PAYETTE — On April 25, Payette County Emergency Manager Adam Gonzalez gave the Payette County Board of Commissioners an update on the present state of drought conditions in Payette County. At the board’s regular meeting, he said that recent rainfall had helped improve things over where the county stood a month prior. “There’s a lot of discussion about drought. I wanted to get ahead of the discussion a bit,” said Gonzalez to the board. “I know the Governor’s had some … discussion about it.” In discussions with Payette Irrigation District Water Master Neil Shippy, he said Shippy determined that the recent rainstorms have been a big boon for local water storage, especially the Cascade Reservoir. Gonzalez cited an Idaho SNOTEL Current Snow Water Equivalent report,…
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