Despite soaring temperatures over the next two weeks, Wyoming weatherman Don Day assured Cowboy State Daily reporters and readers on Monday that no one in the state would actually melt.
However, the Cowboy State Daily meteorologist did say that the next two weeks in Wyoming would be hot, with temperatures reaching the 90s and 100s.
“It’s summer and in Wyoming, the hottest temperatures are seen between mid-July and mid-August,” Day said on Monday. “There will be a slight cooldown on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, but it’s definitely going to be hotter over these next two weeks of July.”
Several Wyoming cities on Monday saw record-breaking temperatures including Cheyenne — with a record of 99 degrees surpassing the previous high for the date of 97 degrees — Torrington, where the temperature reached 107 to break the previous record of 105 and Laramie with a high of 91 compared to the previous record of 89.
Day said the hottest temperature on record in Wyoming is 116 degrees at Bitter Creek in Sweetwater County on July 12, 1900.
He does not expect the next two weeks in Wyoming to get quite that hot, although he did concede that it is warm across the state, by anyone’s standards.
“I got a call today from a guy down by Hawk Springs that swears his thermometer said it was 114 today,” Day said. “I don’t believe that, people put thermometers in places they shouldn’t be all the time.”
The hottest spots in Wyoming are the Bighorn Basin and towns on the edge of Nebraska, as they are at some of the lowest altitudes in the state.
Day also said temperatures this year are not quite as high as the summers of 2003 or 2012, some of the worst summers for the Central Plains.
“We’re getting a taste of the heat right now, but we’re not suffering nearly as bad as people in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas are,” he said.
Afternoon thunderstorms are expected by the weekend, which Day said will alleviate the heat, at least a bit. There will not be significant cooling, but it should help a little, the weatherman said.
“It looks like pretty typical Cheyenne Frontier Days weather,” Day said, alluding to the “Daddy of ’em All” kicking off on Friday.
He said he hoped that the Laramie County area would not see the usual hailstorm that typically passes through at least once during CFD. In 2016, the town of Pine Bluffs saw major damage due to the late July storm.
