10 Extreme Winter Weather Records Boise Could Break in 2023

If you say the word “Snowmageddon” to someone who lived in Boise during the winter of 2016-2017, you will get one of two reactions. 

You may encounter someone who is still incredibly traumatized by the 39.1” of snow that buried us on the valley floor. 21” of those inches fell in January 2017. California transplants (allegedly) were sliding all over the place on I-84. It seemed like kids were never going back to school after Christmas break. Boise Towne Square Mall closed due to snow. The National Guard had to come in to help with snow removal. (Yeah, that really happened.) The world was ending. Milk and bread! Milk and bread! 

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Then you had people who knew that “Snowmageddon” was an atypical Boise winter and enjoyed watching the white stuff pile up. They’re the ones that keep saying “bring it on” every time an extended forecast may seem to suggest that Boise’s in store for a bumpy winter.  

Ironically, the year winter that all of us still talk about was NOT the snowiest winter on record. The snowiest winter on record was 1929-1930 when Boise received 56.5” of the white stuff. 

When the National Weather Service tells us the “normal” snowfall for a season, they’re basing it off snowfall numbers from 1991-2020. That’s 18,” but if you look at the average between 1950 and the end of the 2022-2023 winter, the average is 20.1” 

El Nino to Impact Boise’s Winter

It’s unlikely that Boise will see that sort of snowfall this year because of an El Nino pattern. Looking at NOAA records, Boise’s average snowfall when El Nino is 13.3” when El Nino is considered strong or very strong like it’s expected to be this winter. 

El Nino tends to bring warmer temperatures too. Boise’s “normal” winter temperature is 33.8º, but if you look at the same El Nino years we looked at for snowfall, the average temperature in those winters was 35.3º. 

That said. The weather in Boise is unpredictable. The right storm or the right pattern could set us on track to break one of these 10 extreme winter records this year. Many of these are single-day records, so anything is possible!