Typically, when you think about named storms you’re thinking about hurricanes and tropical storms. These types of weather events don’t occur in Idaho and it’s fairly rare that remnants of Pacific hurricanes affect the Gem State.
That’s not saying that it’s not impossible. Back in 2023, the remnants of Hurricane Hilary reached the Boise area leading to localized flooding and a record for the highest amount of moisture observed in the atmosphere in our area. 47 years before that, remnants of Hurricane Kathleen drenched Boise with 1.74 inches of rain.
Now winter storms? That’s a different story. Idaho’s got a long history of those. What the Gem State doesn’t have is a record of creative names for those weather makers. Any time there’s enough snow to close schools and disrupt traffic, people call it “Snowpocalypse” or “Snowmageddon.”
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Sometimes, they’ll add a 2.0 to it to distinguish it from the unforgettable 39.1” of snowfall the Treasure Valley got during that miserable winter of 2016-2017. In fact, the Idaho Statesman did publish the name “Snowmageddon 2024” when writing about the storm that dumped 15.9” of snow on Boise from January 9 to January 13 of that year…