Weather alerts for the NWS Pocatello ID forecast area

000
FXUS65 KPIH 281139
AFDPIH

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Pocatello ID
539 AM MDT Wed Oct 28 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Mostly dry today and tomorrow.

- Cool again before warming slightly for Thursday.

- Looking like a wet, chilly Halloween/weekend.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 239 AM MDT Wed Oct 28 2026

The weak shortwave passing through our area very early this morning 
brought some light snow showers to parts of the Eastern Highlands. 
Most of these showers will be wrapped up by sunrise and the rest of 
today is expected to be dry as we transition from zonal flow to 
southwesterly flow aloft. Highs today will be very similar to 
yesterday, generally in the mid 40s to low 50s. Wind gusts today 
will be around 25 mph across the Arco Desert/INL and around 15 to 20 
mph elsewhere. The bulk of Thursday will also be dry as temperatures 
warm just a few degrees into the low to mid 50s in most of the lower 
elevations and winds stay mostly light. 

By very late Thursday night or very early Friday morning, our next 
system is just beginning to bring the start of some precipitation to 
Eastern Idaho. An area of low pressure off the coast of the Pacific 
Northwest will be just starting to pull in some Pacific moisture at 
this time and it's this low that moves inland during the weekend and 
the overall deep troughing over the West that transports even more 
Pacific moisture to our doorstep on Saturday and Sunday. The current 
trend has been to decrease QPF on Friday, allowing temperatures to 
stay "warm" for one more day before more organized showers arrive 
for the weekend and bring a cool down. On Friday, the more limited 
precipitation we do have around will likely favor parts of the 
Central Mountains. The rest of the higher elevations get in on the 
fun on Friday afternoon/evening before showers become more 
widespread and steady Saturday into Sunday. While total QPF numbers 
continue to change from model run to model run, there currently is 
at least a 50-60 percent chance that all of our CWA sees at least a 
quarter inch of precipitation from Saturday morning to Monday 
morning and in some higher elevations especially the farther east you 
go, those 48-hour totals may be closer to 0.75-1.00 of liquid 
precipitation. Temperatures will also drop with highs on Sunday and 
Monday being the low to mid 40s for most.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/...
Issued at 532 AM MDT Wed Oct 28 2026

So far, fog development has been very limited this morning. 
However, we do have clouds very near MVFR CIG levels around BYI
and CIGs just on either side of VFR/MVFR levels at DIJ, so will
continue with the MVFR CIG TEMPO group for DIJ for the next few
hours. NBM shows about a 20 percent chance of MVFR CIGs at DIJ 
through the first half of the day and a less than 10 percent of 
MVFR CIGs developing at IDA, PIH, and BYI. Overall, VFR 
conditions are expected to persist today and tomorrow as we 
enter a dry period ahead of our Friday through Sunday system. 

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 239 AM MDT Wed Oct 28 2026

Dry conditions expected for today and tomorrow as we transition from 
zonal flow to southwesterly flow aloft. This will warm us up a few 
degrees, but min RHs will still be around 40-50 percent across the 
whole area. Wind gusts today will be in the 15-25 mph range. 
Precipitation returns to the forecast very early Friday morning for 
the Central Mountains and then spread eastward and becomes more 
widespread through the weekend. While total QPF numbers continue to 
change from model run to model run, there currently is at least a 50-
60 percent chance that all of our CWA sees at least a quarter inch 
of precipitation from Saturday morning to Monday morning and in some 
higher elevations especially the farther east you go, those 48-hour 
totals may be closer to 0.75-1.00 of liquid precipitation.

&&

.PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...AMM
AVIATION...AMM
FIRE WEATHER...AMM