Idaho drought despite normal precip, hundreds of roadside signs pulled, and a cloudy 59 Sunday

Welcome to issue eighty-seven. Today is cloudy and in the upper 50s with a small chance of showers after noon, so the jacket is not optional. Plan for the cooler end of the forecast.

Today: Idaho's hydrologist explains how the state had a drought in a normal-precipitation year, the state pulls hundreds of illegal signs off highway edges before the election, and we run the money behind Prop 1. Plus bingo at Lakeview, a Wednesday networking lunch at Loose Screw, and a Friday yard sale. Know someone who should be reading this? Forward them the sign-up link →

Let's get into it.

Browse the highlights — read Meridian Local Scoop online →

🧠 Trivia: Chinden Boulevard, the busy road across north Meridian, got its name from a mail-in naming contest. What did the winning entry earn: $25, a free lot, or a lifetime pass to the county fair?

(Answer at the bottom.)

Six picks for the next week, all with a Meridian address. Most of this week's bigger Meridian events already ran earlier in the Scoop, so this list is on the small, scrappy side. Two of these (the Friday party and the Saturday trunk-or-treat) come from event aggregator listings, so confirm details on the venue's own page.

✅ We didn't pull a live alert feed this run, and the National Weather Service file for Meridian itself was last updated Tuesday, so treat this as a plan, not a promise. NWS Boise is the place to check before you commit to outdoor plans.

Sunday, October 11 — Meridian

Overnight low near 37°. Sunrise is at 7:54 a.m., sunset at 7:10 p.m.

Partly sunny to cloudy, with a 20% chance of showers after noon. The NWS point forecast says 59° for today, but that file is five days old. Idaho News 6's live Boise strip says 58° and cloudy this weekend, so this time the live number runs a degree lower. Plan for the upper 50s. NWS gives tonight a 30% chance of showers.

The rest of the week (NWS, from Tuesday's file; treat it as directional): Monday is 57 with a 20% chance of showers (Idaho News 6 says 59 and mostly cloudy), and Tuesday is 60 with patchy morning fog. Expect gray, cool and damp-ish all week. Dig out the jacket and keep the umbrella in the car.

Idaho had a drought last year even though statewide precipitation was normal, and the state's own hydrologist says that is a first on record. According to Idaho News 6, David Hoekema of the Idaho Department of Water Resources said last year was the warmest since 1934. That pushed snow to higher elevations and shrank the area where snowpack builds. Dry soil also soaks up rain before it can run off, so streams get less of it.

Hoekema said it is too early to know how a strong El Niño will play out, with a clearer picture expected by early March. The story covers the mountain basins statewide and doesn't single out the Treasure Valley, but snowpack is what the canals around Meridian ultimately depend on. Read more →

Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 9.

The Idaho Transportation Department has removed hundreds of signs placed illegally in state highway right-of-way ahead of election season, according to Idaho News 6. ITD District 3's Jill Youmans said the signs make it harder for drivers to leave the road safely and block sightlines. The rule covers business, private and group signs, not just political ones, and ITD suggests keeping signs back beyond light poles, power lines and drainage ditches.

ITD sorts removed signs by owner and stores them in a shed at its Boise headquarters. Owners can contact ITD to be connected with the right foreman, and they can put a sign back up outside the right-of-way if they follow the rules. The story doesn't list which roads were cleared, so if you're missing a sign, start with ITD. Read more →

Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 8.

Political committees on both sides of Prop 1 have raised millions, according to Idaho News 6. As of Oct. 9, the committee supporting the measure, Idahoans United for Women and Families, had taken in about $4.5 million this year, and the committee opposing it, Too Extreme for Idaho, had about $2.6 million. That is roughly $7.1 million combined. We're not picking a side here, just reporting the money.

The biggest single supporter donor is Government That Works PAC of Washington, D.C., at $900,000, and the biggest opponent donor is Angela and James Harrison of Garden City, at $1 million. About 60% of the supporters' money comes from inside Idaho, versus roughly 99% for the opposition. Worth knowing before the ads start landing in your mailbox. Read more →

Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 9.

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Forecast: 20% chance of showers. The dog: 100% committed to the jacket.

🧠 Trivia answer: $25.

According to BoiseDev, the road now called Chinden Boulevard was once plain old Highway 20/26. A mail-in contest to rename it was won by Neta Danzer, who took home $25, per Donna Conn's 1990 book Garden City History. Her entry blended "Chinese garden" into "Chinden," and the road became Garden City's Main Street under that name. BoiseDev notes that the "SHIN-den or CHIN-den" argument still isn't settled, and the article doesn't say what year the contest ran. Read more →

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