Treasure Valley: Is this much snow during February a normal thing?

One thing I absolutely love about living in the Boise area is that we get to fully experience all four seasons. And the running joke is … sometimes we get to experience all four of those seasons in the same day. Like most comedy, it’s only funny because it’s true.

Or in this case … we get to experience multiple seasons in the same week. We’re coming out of an absolutely beautiful weekend. On Sunday afternoon, I was literally wearing shorts and a t-shirt and walking my dogs at a park in Nampa that was absolutely popping – everyone was out walking their dogs and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Today, I woke up to 3-inches of snow and a slippery drive to work.

But all kidding aside, this means we get to see each of the four seasons in their prime, and fortunately (or unfortunately) that also means we get to experience the Boise winters and snowfall to the fullest extent.

So … how much snow does Boise typically get?

On average, Boise gets between 18-21 inches of snow per year. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), February snowfalls in Boise have been increasing drastically.

For instance, in 5 years (2015-2020), the total number of inches of snowfall in Boise during the month of February was 25.6 inches. And just last year (2021), there were 14.2 inches of snowfall in Boise during the month of February.

If you’re not from here, you’re probably thinking that’s absolutely crazy, but I promise you, it’s not all at once, and it’s totally manageable.

As of right now, Boise is actually well-under the amount of precipitation we usually get, which means this recent snowfall is a really great thing so we don’t have a drought later this year.