128 FXUS65 KPIH 232055 AFDPIH Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 155 PM MST Sun Feb 23 2020 .DISCUSSION... A frontal system is poised to sweep through the area later this evening and into the overnight hours bringing with it some gusty winds, snow and rain although it will be very brief. Hi-res model guidance continues to bring a line of snow showers into the Central Mountains around 5PM or so. Though the snow will move through rather quickly it will likely be heavy at times with blowing snow due to strong winds making visibility very low, possibly near white-out conditions. Between now and Monday morning, expect 1 to 3 inches of snow for the Northern Central mountains, Eastern Highlands, Teton Valley, Big Hole mountains, Caribou range and the Wasatch mountains. Across the lower elevations impacts from this line don't look to have nearly as much of an impact as a 1-2 hour period of rain and/or snow is likely including a slight chance for a very brief period of freezing rain around Idaho Falls and Blackfoot as the front moves through but again overall impacts should be limited. Precip type will likely be rain across the Magic Valley with a mix expected in and around Pocatello before briefly changing over to snow with little to no accumulation. Closer to Idaho Falls and Rexburg snowfall accumulations would likely be a half inch or less. As the moisture departs to the east, some light snow showers will linger into the day Monday along and near the Wyoming border but accumulations should be fairly light. As the week progresses, models build a high pressure ridge over the region allowing temperatures to begin to moderate. A very weak shortwave will swing through Wednesday increasing cloud cover some and perhaps allowing for some scattered snow showers across the Island Park area but much of eastern Idaho is expected to remain dry. Into the weekend, ridging re-establishes itself across the area as we continue with dry conditions and moderating temperatures. Temperatures will slowly rise throughout the week with highs in the 40s, possibly hitting 50 in the Snake Plain as we get into the first half of the weekend. Late Saturday and into Sunday, model shows a trough across the Pacific NW digging into Idaho potentially bring some rain and snow for late next weekend. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions to prevail for a few more hours this afternoon until a frontal boundary arrives. This front will temporarily degrade VIS conditions, bring LLWS and increase winds behind the front. CIG are expected to remain mostly VFR but may drop IFR at SUN and DIJ. Expect the boundary to arrive late this evening with improving conditions expected near or after midnight. ND && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 2 AM MST Monday for IDZ055>059. && $$ |