Wind gusts up to 50 mph to hit Idaho on Monday afternoon. Then … thunderstorms and snow

Shaun Goodwin
·2 min read
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Treasure Valley residents may want to hold onto their hats and bring inside any loose items Monday afternoon, as strong winds are expected to blow through the Boise area.

The National Weather Service in Boise issued a wind advisory for the upper Treasure Valley (including Ada County) and Magic Valley on Monday. The advisory is in effect from noon to 7 p.m. and warns of sustained winds between 20 and 35 mph and wind gusts up to 50 mph.

Weather Service meteorologist Korri Anderson told the Idaho Statesman that the strongest winds will likely be in the Magic Valley, but Boise residents can still expect gusts up to 35 mph.

“Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects,” the wind advisory warns. “A few power outages are possible.”

The strongest winds will likely arrive in Boise around 2 p.m., according to modeling from the Weather Service, and last until the advisory expires at 7 p.m.

The strong winds result from a cold front moving from the northwest into Idaho. The temperature in Boise is expected to drop from a high of 59 degrees during the day to 34 degrees overnight. The temperature drop won’t arrive as soon as the wind because strong winds typically blow ahead of a cold front. Expect the drop to begin at around 5 p.m., once the cold front arrives.

The cold front also brings the chance for severe thunderstorms in the valleys and snow at higher elevations.

“There’s about a 10% to 15% chance (of thunderstorms), and that’ll be mainly north of Boise,” Anderson said. “It will mostly come from north of Ontario across the west-central mountains and then up toward Baker City, Oregon.”

Any storms that form over the mountains may fall as snow. Anderson said the snow level will lower to about 3,500 feet Monday afternoon. Boise sits at about 2,700 feet in altitude, but the base of Bogus Basin sits at 5,800 feet, meaning any storms north of Boise could drop snow approaching the Boise Foothills.

The Weather Service forecasts that the highest peaks in the Boise Mountains could pick up about 2 inches of snow.

Anderson said any snowstorms would likely include graupel, or “soft hail,” which is small frozen pellets akin to hail that melt on impact with the ground.