The Calm Before the Storm this Thursday before a sloppy weather weekend
If you’re looking to make outdoor plans for the rest of the week, today is your best window for nice conditions; we are preparing for a mix of sloppy weather in the days ahead.
Thursday will be dry, with temperatures remaining above average; winds are slowly increasing as Hurricane Rachel moves toward the California coast. This hurricane will cause a major pattern shift toward deep low pressure over much of the Pacific Northwest this weekend, meaning much cooler and wetter weather. Mountain snow is also possible in the Central Mountains and Eastern Highlands.
Clear skies are expected as we wake up this Thursday morning, with a slight chill in the air and an average low around 40 degrees. Sunshine is expected this afternoon, with a high near 78 across the Snake River Plain. Calm winds will blow from the southwest at 5-7 mph in the afternoon. Humidity will feel relatively low this afternoon. Temperatures this evening will dip into the lower 40s with continued clear skies.
Friday morning and early afternoon will remain fairly mild, but as Hurricane Rachel begins to race toward the California coast, we will feel a pickup in breezes from the Southwest. As the weekend approaches, that hurricane system will weaken into a tropical storm pattern that pushes inland and eventually reaches our region as a deep low-pressure system. By Saturday afternoon, most of Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming can expect sloppy weather. Expect lots of rain across the Snake River Plain and Magic Valley area. Pushing north, the low pressure will create sloppy, wintry mixes of snow for the Eastern Highlands and Central Mountains. This will be the coolest point of our 2026 fall season so far.
Sunday will continue to bring showers and thunderstorms across the region, and this pattern will continue into the start of next week. Uncertainty remains about how far west the moisture from Hurricane Rachel will reach, so the highest precipitation amounts may shift back and forth until the weekend.
Colder temperatures on Monday could mean snowflakes fall at lower elevations, but they likely won’t stick. The most likely cooler-weather condition we could feel on Monday and into the top of the week will be widespread frost/freeze in the early morning hours.
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