February is still winter in Idaho, but the days are lengthening and the first signs of the turn appear in the lowest valleys. Great Horned Owls are nesting, the Snake River Birds of Prey raptors begin courting, and on the warmest south-facing foothill slopes the season's very first sagebrush buttercup may open.
Week by week in February
January 29 – February 4
- Great Horned Owls begin nesting in old hawk and raven nests across the canyon country, hooting through the long winter nights.
- Willow and water birch catkins begin to swell along the lower river valleys, the first faint stirring of the trees toward spring.
- Storage russet, red, and gold potatoes anchor the markets with cured Treasure Valley onions and winter squash from the cellars.
- California and Milbert's Tortoiseshells wait out the cold as hibernating adults in rock crevices and outbuildings in the foothills.
February 5–11
- In the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, Prairie Falcons and Golden Eagles begin courtship flights over the canyon cliffs ahead of the great nesting season.
- The Winter Hexagon and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer ride high; no major shower falls, but the cold air is brittle-clear over the dark reserve.
- Start onions, leeks, peppers, and celery indoors under lights for the short outdoor season across the Treasure and Magic valleys.
- Aspen and Rocky Mountain maple buds fatten with rising sap in the warmest mountain draws as the days lengthen.
February 12–18
- Bald Eagles still work the rivers, and the first Killdeer and Red-winged Blackbirds return to the Snake River Plain wetlands as the thaw begins.
- On the warmest south-facing foothill slopes, the season's first sagebrush buttercup may open its glossy yellow flower against bare ground.
- Dried Palouse lentils, split peas, and chickpeas fill the staple bins alongside the last firm storage potatoes and onions.
- Long, cold, superbly transparent nights make this a fine month for the Orion Nebula from the central-Idaho dark-sky country.
February 19–25
- Mountain Bluebirds — the state bird — begin returning to the foothill fence lines, and Sandhill Cranes trickle back to the eastern valleys.
- In the mildest Treasure Valley gardens, plant bare-root fruit trees, rhubarb, and asparagus crowns on a thaw as the soil works.
- On an unusually warm, calm afternoon a Mourning Cloak may wake and patrol the lower Snake or Clearwater river bottoms — the earliest butterfly of the year.
- Black cottonwood and willow catkins lengthen along the rivers, dusting the first faint tree pollen over the lowland creeks.
Birds This Month
February holds Idaho's winter birds while the earliest nesters begin. Great Horned Owls are already on eggs in old hawk and raven nests across the canyon country, hooting through the long nights. In the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, the great raptor nesting season is stirring — Prairie Falcons, Golden Eagles, and Red-tailed Hawks begin courtship flights over the Snake River canyon walls before the spring concentration that makes this the densest nesting-raptor area in North America.
Wintering birds remain strong: Trumpeter and Tundra Swans still ride the ice-free water of Henry's Fork, Bald Eagles work the rivers, and Rough-legged Hawks and Northern Shrikes hunt the snowy flats. Feeders stay busy with Cassin's and House Finches, Pine Siskins, and in irruption winters Bohemian Waxwings stripping the mountain-ash and juniper berries through town.
What's Blooming
February brings the very first hint of bloom to Idaho's mildest, sunniest ground. On warm, south-facing foothill and canyon slopes in the Treasure Valley and the lower Snake and Salmon river country, the small glossy-yellow sagebrush buttercup — the classic earliest wildflower of the Intermountain West — can open by late month in a mild year, a tiny splash of color against bare ground and old snow. It is the leading edge of everything to come.
Everywhere else the land is still locked in winter. The Camas Prairie and the high Sawtooth basins lie under deep snow, and the sagebrush steppe shows only its silver foliage and the bleached seed heads of last year's balsamroot and lupine. Along the rivers, the catkins of willow and water birch begin to swell, and Rocky Mountain maple and aspen buds fatten, the first stirrings of sap in the lowland trees.
Garden This Month
February is when the Idaho gardening year quietly restarts indoors and, in the warmest valleys, outdoors. This is the prime month to start onions, leeks, and slow seedlings under lights — Idaho's famous sweet onions and storage onions need the long head start that an indoor February sowing gives, and peppers and celery for the short outdoor season go in now too. Finish the dormant pruning of apples, pears, cherries, and grapes before the buds swell in the southwest fruit country.
In the mildest Treasure Valley and lower Snake River gardens, soil may be workable on a thaw, allowing bare-root fruit trees, cane berries, rhubarb, and asparagus crowns to go in late in the month. Everywhere, the work is preparation: clean and sharpen tools, plan the rotation, and order any remaining short-season seed before it sells out. Resist planting outside too early — Idaho's clear nights mean hard radiational frosts deep into spring, especially in the eastern plain and mountain valleys.
Zone 4b (eastern Snake River Plain & mountain valleys): still deep winter. Start onions and the slowest seedlings indoors, plan the short, frost-bracketed season carefully, and choose only the hardiest, quickest-maturing varieties from the catalogs.
Zone 5b (Boise foothills & Magic Valley): start onions, leeks, peppers, and celery indoors now for the short season ahead. Outdoors, finish pruning and prep beds when they thaw, but hold off planting — hard frosts run well into spring here.
Zone 6a (warmest Treasure Valley & lower Snake River): the season opens earliest here. Finish dormant pruning of fruit trees and grapes, plant bare-root trees, canes, and rhubarb when soil is workable, and start onions, leeks, and early brassicas indoors under lights.
What's at the Farmers Market
February markets in Idaho still belong to storage and cellar crops, with little fresh growth in the cold. The Idaho potato remains the anchor — russets, reds, golds, and fingerlings holding firm from the great eastern-plain and Magic Valley cellars — alongside storage Treasure Valley onions, carrots, beets, parsnips, cabbage, and winter squash, and dried Palouse lentils and split peas from the northern hills.
Winter hoop-house and cold-frame growers near Boise, Twin Falls, and Moscow keep frost-sweetened spinach, kale, mâche, and overwintered greens on the table at year-round and winter farmers markets. The season's value-added Idaho goods fill out the stand: honey, dried beans, hard cider, wine, and milled grain and flour from local mills. Choose potatoes that are smooth and firm with no soft spots, green, or sprouts, store them cool, dark, and dry, and keep onions in a dry, ventilated spot away from the potatoes.
Night Sky This Month
February nights are long, cold, and superbly transparent over Idaho's high country. The Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve — the first such reserve in the United States, centered on the Sawtooths, Stanley Basin, and Sun Valley — offers some of the darkest winter skies in the lower 48, while Bruneau Dunes State Park and its observatory south of the Snake, and the wide flats of the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, give Treasure Valley stargazers room to escape the city glow.
The winter sky still dominates: Orion, Taurus with the Pleiades, and the Winter Hexagon ride high after dark, while in the late evening the Beehive Cluster in Cancer and the rising Leo hint at the spring sky to come in the east. No major meteor shower falls in February, but the steady, brittle clarity makes it a fine month for the constellations and for hunting the Orion Nebula. For this year's exact planet positions, see the printable Idaho night-sky guide.
Butterflies & Pollinators
February is still too cold for most butterfly activity in Idaho, but the first flickers are possible in the mildest valleys. The Mourning Cloak, hibernating as an adult under cottonwood bark and in woodpiles, is the species most likely to appear — on an unusually warm, sunny, windless afternoon in the lower Treasure Valley or the Snake and Clearwater river bottoms, an overwintered adult may briefly wake and patrol over bare, thawing ground, the earliest butterfly of the Idaho year.
The other overwintering adults — Milbert's and California Tortoiseshells and a few anglewings — remain tucked in rock crevices, hollow logs, and outbuildings in the foothills, rarely stirring this early. Every other Idaho species is still locked in winter dormancy: swallowtails as chrysalids on twigs and bark, blues and coppers as part-grown larvae or chrysalids near their host plants, and the high-mountain species buried deep beneath the Sawtooth and Lost River snowpack.
Trees This Month
February's lengthening light begins to wake Idaho's lowland trees while the mountains stay locked in winter. Along the rivers and creeks of the Snake River Plain and the southwestern valleys, the catkins of willow, water birch, and black cottonwood begin to swell and lengthen, and the buds of quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, and chokecherry fatten with rising sap, the first promise of spring in the bare hardwood corridors.
The conifer forests carry the season unchanged: ponderosa pine on the canyon and foothill slopes, Douglas-fir and grand fir on the mountains, and in the north-Idaho panhandle the great western white pine, western redcedar, and western hemlock of the Clearwater and St. Joe country. The deciduous western larch still stands bare and gray among them. Sagebrush and Rocky Mountain juniper hold their evergreen color over the snow, the junipers' blue berries feeding the last of the wintering waxwings and robins.
Weather & Daylight
Across Idaho, a typical February day averages a high near 37°F and a low near 19°F, with about 2.2 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Still deep winter, low-30s afternoons and near-freezing lows, snow tapering slightly but the chill refusing to loosen its grip.
| Average high | 37°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 19°F |
| Precipitation | 2.2 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 7:40 MT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 18:06 MT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (MT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Idaho's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
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The complete Idaho birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: February in Illinois · February in Indiana · February in Iowa