Residents of southeastern Wyoming braced for yet another blast of snowy and windy weather as a blizzard warning went into effect in advance of a strong storm expected to bring up to 12 inches of new snow to the region by Thursday.
The National Weather Service issued the blizzard warning for Goshen, Laramie and part of Albany counties on Tuesday, warning residents that freezing rain would precede the snow and wind on Wednesday, making travel difficult.
Much of the rest of the state was under a winter storm warning.
The storm hit less than a month after a blizzard that paralyzed southeastern Wyoming in mid-March and less than 24 hours after mild weather that saw temperatures reach the 70s on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, when we have these big warm-ups this time of year, that’s an indication there’s something bad coming,” said Don Day, a meteorologist and owner of Day Weather.
Day said this week’s storm may not be as strong as the one seen in March, but it will still have an impact.
“It’s going to be very difficult to top that storm (in mid-March),” he said. “This one on its own, though, will be pretty strong.”
Forecasts called for snowfall to range from 6 to 12 inches in Cheyenne to 4 to 10 inches in Douglas and 7 to 15 inches in Lusk.
Day said the winds accompanying the storm, expected to gust to 55 mph, would cause most of the problems.
“We have seen storms that have dropped more snow in the past, but we’re going to have just enough snow with a lot of wind again,” he said. “And the wind is going to cause probably the biggest problems with the blowing and drifting of the snow.”
The weather will create dangerous conditions for livestock, Day said, especially for ranches that were hit by the last blizzard.
“A lot of folks who took it hard are going to get hit hard again,” he said.
Conditions are expected to improve by Saturday, when high temperatures will reach the high 40s and low 50s.
