Winter Storm Warnings lifted, Very cold wind chills for weekend
Update: The winter storm that swept through Eastern Idaho has left and now cold air is moving into the region. The National Weather Service in Pocatello issued a Wind Chill Warning for Saturday morning. Weekend wind chills could drop into the -20° to -40° range. Wind chill is what the air feels like to the exposed skin, with a combination of cold air and wind gusts.
From The National Weather Service in Pocatello: WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM MST SATURDAY… EVEN THOUGH THE WINTER STORM WARNING WILL EXPIRE…SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO FALL FROM SOUTHWEST INL TO CRATERS OF THE MOON THROUGH AROUND MIDNIGHT. FOR THOSE AREAS WHERE SNOWFALL HAS ENDED…ROADS WILL REMAIN SNOW COVERED AND SLICK. ONLY TRAVEL UNLESS NECESSARY TONIGHT. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS THE COMBINATION OF VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA OR DEATH IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
The snowstorm on Friday dropped anywhere from 5″ to 10″ of fresh snowfall in the Snake River Plain. Most cities in the region have triggered their snow removal policies. Idaho Falls and Ammon may ticket or tow vehicles left on city streets during plowing.
Update 9:40a: City of Idaho Falls is reminding residents about the parking restriction policy after snow accumulates two inches. See related story here. Click here for the policy.
A newly issued blizzard warning has been issued for the upper Snake River Highlands, which includes Clark, Fremont, Madison and Teton counties, including Yellowstone National Park due to zero visibility and gusty winds up to 45 mph.
Roads from around Blackfoot north are seeing heavy snow. Pocatello is seeing rain. First Alert team predicts the rain in Pocatello will turn to snow soon.
Roads are snowy and slushy and traffic should slow down.
The snow is expected to continue through the afternoon and clearing up by evening.
Temperatures are expected to drop significantly overnight and into the weekend with temperatures of 0 to -10 in the valley, mountain -10 to -20 with wind chills making it feel much colder.
