Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Pocatello, ID
Issued by NWS Pocatello, ID
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144 FXUS65 KPIH 171727 AFDPIH Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 1027 AM MST Mon Nov 17 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Showery weather continues throughout the week with low confidence in timing and amount for any location. - Cooler temperatures but still above climatic normals for the time of year through the period. - Threat of precipitation will generally be less starting Tuesday and remain lower for the rest of the week. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 217 AM MST Mon Nov 17 2025 Satellite this morning shows a dense cloud shield over much of Southeast Idaho with coverage more scattered across north-central Idaho as the upper low continues shifting eastward. Radar shows ongoing organized precipitation generally east and south of a line extending from Burley to Idaho Falls with showery precipitation in the central mountains. Temperatures remain mild behind the front with snow levels continuing to gradually lower to around 6,500k - 7k feet through the morning hours, allowing for some snow to mix in at higher elevations. The low will be to our east by later morning and precipitation mostly concluded by early afternoon. A transient ridge will shift through later today, keeping conditions mild and mostly dry with only residual showery precipitation ongoing in the high elevations of the central and eastern mountains. Locally gusty winds will remain possible through the afternoon, with gusts generally maxing out around 25 mph. Daytime highs today will run 5 to 10 degrees above climatological norms, warming into the upper 40s to low 50s in the valleys and 30s and 40s in the mountains and mid-elevations, respectively. Ample cloud cover will keep overnight lows tonight more than 10 degrees above normal and above freezing for the majority of Southeast Idaho. The upstream split system in the Pacific will move onshore and begin tracking inland today, with models showing one trough headed for northern Idaho and the other tracking southeastward. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Issued at 128 PM MST Sun Nov 16 2025 Recent troubles with model consistency and agreement in the longer term continue today. The next system fully splits during the day Tuesday with the southern low closing over southern California, and the northern stream ejecting a small shortwave through the PacNW for a continued chance of showers. There are already significant model differences in how the systems evolve through the remainder of the forecast, and quite a bit of model spread for both precipitation and temperatures. The long range ensemble means continue the trend of developing a deep split flow across the western half of the US through the end of the week. Clusters portray the northern stream north of the US/Canada border with either a closed low or open trough near the Four Corners and Southern Rockies or off the California coast. In general both of these solutions should produce drier conditions for East Idaho, but the NBM maintains weak precipitation each period through Saturday. Additionally, NBM means support daytime high temperatures remaining in the 40s for the extended, but a stronger ridge could nudge highs back into the lower to mid 50s based on the probabilities. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 1018 AM MST Mon Nov 17 2025 Rain and snow continues to diminish as the main low is shifting toward the Plains. We do expect some slow improvement across the area. We should eventually go VFR with mid clouds remaining at BYI, IDA, PIH. The bigger question marks are at SUN and DIJ. At DIJ, there a lot of moisture showing up now and forecast to remain in place across the Teton Valley. We continued the trend of MVFR/high end IFR ceilings at that TAF site through tomorrow morning. Confidence at SUN is really not there for a ton of improvement ceiling-wise. That have IFR/LIFR this morning with light winds. The wind is now trying to do the usual upvalley wind direction, which seems to be scouring out the really low cloud deck...along with seeing some breaks in the low and mid level decks overall. We slowly improve ceilings to VFR by mid evening, but that may be way too optimistic. There is a lot of moisture around the valley AND there is no clear switch to a decent Northwest wind tonight. We did keep broken mid level clouds in there that are "VFR" through tomorrow afternoon. We wouldn`t be surprised to see things end up more pessimistic until closer to sunrise tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Cropp LONG TERM...DMH AVIATION...Keyes