Experts Reveal Names of 26 Severe Winter Storms That Could Bury Idaho

When it comes to naming winter storms, most Idahoans would probably admit that we could be a little more creative. Every time the Gem State gets heavy snowfall, it seems like it gets nicknamed “Snowpocalypse” or “Snowmageddon” on social media. 

Often, people will add the year afterward just to make sure that others know they’re not talking about those miserable weeks in 2016-2017 when the snowfall in the Boise area just wouldn’t stop. When all was said and done, more than 39.1” that winter, making it the snowiest Treasure Valley winter in the past decade. 

READ MORE: 2024 First Snow Dates For 14 Important Idaho Cities Revealed

Case in point? This January 2024 article written by the Idaho Statesman. A winter storm started hitting Boise on January 10 and the newspaper very unoriginally called it “Snowmageddon 2.0,” drawing comparisons between what was happening to what we survived in 2017. 12 days later they declared that we had made it through “Snowmageddon 2024.” 

The paper and all of us who used those names on social media were incorrect. That winter storm actually had a real name - Winter Storm Geri. 

When Did They Start Naming Winter Storms?

That’s right. The storm had a name, just like hurricanes do. However, unlike hurricanes, winter storms don’t get their names from the National Weather Service. Instead, the names come from the Weather Channel. It was something that they started doing during Winter 2012-2013. Why? Officially, the Weather Channel explains:

T​his is done to raise awareness of the hazards of winter storms including treacherous, challenging driving conditions, potential power outages and tree damage.

We’ve also read that the rise of social media played a role in the decision. As hashtags grew in popularity, it became much easier for people to search the latest information on what was happening with the storm impacting their town or region with a hashtag like #WinterStormGeri. It produced more relevant results than a generic hashtag like #WinterStorm. 

How Big Does a Winter Storm Need to Be to Get a Name?

The Weather Channel reveals that they’ll give names to storms that are either part of a National Weather Service winter storm, blizzard of ice warning covering a population of at least two million Americans OR a storm that’s part of those warnings covering at least an area of 400,000 kilometers. They do NOT name lake-effect storms. 

2024-2025 Winter Storm Names Revealed

So now that you know that storms that pummel Idaho may sometimes be large enough to have a name, what storms could we experience this year? The Weather Channel will use these 26 names this winter. 

BTW, if you made it all the way to the end of this list and were wondering if Snowpocalypse 2016-2017 actually had a name? A significant amount of the late-January snow fell during Winter Storm Leo.