A snowstorm and cold front expected to hit southeastern Wyoming this weekend probably will not be the final blast of wintry weather for the season, according to Cowboy State Daily Meteorologist Don Day.
Day said Memorial Day weekend would have to come and go before Wyoming residents would be out of the woods when it comes to wintry weather, at least until the fall.
“If you’d asked me a week ago, I’d have said we were probably done with the hard freezes, but there’s another cold front coming in eight or nine days from now too,” Day said. “We’re near the end, but I’m not calling it done after this weekend.”
Thankfully, the snow won’t be too terrible this weekend, although Laramie and Rawlins will likely be hit the hardest by the storm, Day said.
Saratoga, Rawlins and Laramie will likely see “several” inches of snow over the next 36 hours, which will make travel on Interstate 80 difficult given slushy and icy conditions mixed with poor visibility. The mountainous areas in southeastern Wyoming will see anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow in the next few days Day said.
Day noted that Cheyenne is on a “precipice” of the snowstorm, meaning that if the storm shifts either north or south just a bit, there will be a difference in what the city sees in terms of snow.
However, Day did say the city likely will not be affected by snow as to cities like Laramie and Saratoga. Worst-case scenarios called for Cheyenne to receive 3 to 4 inches of snow.
“It’ll be a nice, wet storm in terms of bringing us water,” Day said.
There will be freezing temperatures on Thursday night through Friday, so Day warned anyone who might have gotten excited and planted tomatoes or flowers recently to get them covered to avoid death by frost.
“I’m going to have to go into witness protection after all of this,” Day joked.
