Is this the warmest December ever recorded for eastern Idaho?

POCATELLO – So far, winter is shaping up to be warmer than usual in eastern Idaho.

That’s the verdict from Tim Axford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pocatello.

While it isn’t quite over yet, Axford says this month could potentially be the warmest December ever recorded for the Idaho Falls area.

The average temperatures for the month of November was typical for both Idaho Falls and Pocatello this year, but both locations saw “unusually higher than average” temperatures in the month of December. As of Dec. 30, the average temperature has been 30.3 degrees in Idaho Falls and 32.5 degrees in Pocatello.

The 30-year average temperatures for December are 21.7 degrees for Idaho Falls and 26.2 degrees for Pocatello. When comparing this month to these average temperatures, this puts Idaho Falls and Pocatello 8.6 and 6.3 degrees above average respectively.

“When we’re talking about the realm of 6 degrees above plus, that’s well above average, in terms of our delineation,” Axford said.

As it stands, this December is the warmest the NWS has ever recorded for the Idaho Falls area, and the fifth warmest for the Pocatello area. The warmest December ever recorded for Idaho Falls was in 1958. The average temperature was 30 degrees.

While the last two days of this month are expected to have cooler temperatures, Axford doesn’t expect this to change the average temperature much.

“We’ll see where the numbers officially come in, but even what happens in the next two days with cooler temperatures, it’s not gonna knock us back down towards normal all that much,” Axford said.

Looking forward, the month of January is expected to start off with some cooler days, but will start to heat up after the first weekend. Axford expects warmer temperatures going into the middle of January, and for it to stay “fairly warm” going into the end of the month.

“We’ll occasionally get snow in the lower elevations for sure, but we’ll also see those days where rain might mix in as well,” Axford said.

But Axford warns people against looking for an outlook for what the whole winter will look like.

“Winter in Idaho is very tenuous. We can have a warmer and drier winter, but we could still have several good storms in there,” Axford said. “We want folks to pay attention to that next week or two and what the impacts are, particularly if they’re driving or traveling anywhere. We want folks to be prepared.”