Boise could break a 90-year-old snow-day record this week. Here’s how it can happen
Boise is on the precipice of tying a 90-year-old snow record, and it will probably happen Thursday night.
The city will then have a chance to break the record on Friday.
The City of Trees has experienced 11 straight days with snowfall, putting the current run squarely in second place for the longest streak ever. It surpassed third in the rankings on Sunday, when eight consecutive snow days equaled streaks set in 1916 and 1969.
If it snows on Thursday night, Boise will tie the record of 12 straight days, recorded in 1933.
️ #Boise hit 11 consecutive days of snowfall, just one behind the record of 12 set in 1933. We could tie the record tonight with the next strong system coming in. #IDwx #ORwx pic.twitter.com/pvZoKQRMA8
— NWS Boise (@NWSBoise) March 9, 2023
“It’s going to be probably between 9 p.m. and midnight (on Thursday) when we have the best chance, but it does look like we could start seeing precipitation start as snow,” Josh Smith, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boise, told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday.
“So yes, it looks like we could tie the record.”
The Weather Service forecasts a 100% chance of rain and snow on Thursday night. A wind advisory is also in effect from 5 p.m. Thursday until 8 p.m. Friday, warning of 20 to 30 mph winds and gusts up to 50 mph.
About a tenth of an inch is forecast to fall in downtown Boise Thursday night, with the Boise Foothills receiving 3 to 4 inches. At least a trace of snow needs to fall for it to count toward the record, and it doesn’t need to stick to surfaces.
A trace is when snow is observed, but it cannot be measured due to it melting upon impact or is too small to measure by normal means.
What are the chances that Boise will break the record on Friday? That’s going to be “interesting,” according to Smith.
“If we do get it, it’s going to have to be when the cold front passes through, just around noon on Friday,” Smith said. “We’re going to have a cold front come through, and it might get cold enough that we could see some flurries with that, or some sleet or some frozen precip.”
Ultimately, Smith thinks that Boise has a “pretty good shot.”
Here are the snowfall amounts for Boise’s current streak, starting on Feb. 26:
Feb. 26: 0.3 inches
Feb. 27: 0.8 inches
Feb. 28: 0.3 inches
March 1: 2.1 inches
March 2: Trace
March 3: Trace
March 4: 0.1 inch
March 5: 1.5 inches
March 6: Trace
March 7: 0.2 inches
March 8: 0.5 inches
