As many other areas of Wyoming battle huge wildfires, the first snow of the season blanketed Togwotee Pass on Monday morning.
But don’t read into that too much — the Cowboy State isn’t about to be plunged into an early winter.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s webcams over Togwotee Pass near Wind River Lake showed heavy, wet flakes of snow falling onto U.S. Highway 26/287 in the Wind River Range.
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day was confident in declaring it the first snow of the season in Wyoming.
“I’m not aware of anything before this,” he said. “I also got a picture from somebody that lives in Driggs, Idaho. There was a pretty good covering of snow on the backside the Grand Teton as well.”
Despite appearances, Day said the “first snow” of the season is an outlier rather than a trend.
“This does not mean that summer's over, but summer is on the way out,” he said.
As Anticipated
Day and other meteorologists guessed that the first snow might fall around this time.
A low-pressure cold front moved across Wyoming over the weekend, which was described as “the first fall-like system” of the season by a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Riverton.
“Late August and early September cold fronts will do this,” Day added. “It doesn’t happen every year, but this is nothing out of bounds for this time of year, so to speak.”
Another cold front is anticipated to arrive Wednesday night, carrying more moisture and causing a slight drop in temperatures. But by the weekend, temperatures will bounce back to late-summer averages across Wyoming.
The unexpected benefit of this cold front is the relief it could bring to firefighters battling the Fish Creek Fire in Bridger-Teton National Forest. As of Monday morning, the wildfire had burned more than 11,000 acres.
“From the radar, it looks like the Fish Creek Fire did see some rain and snow,” Day said. “That, along with colder temperatures and high humidity, should have really helped the firefighters.”
While any moisture and relief helps, it’ll take more than Monday’s snow to have a noticeable impact on the fire’s behavior, said Chris Joyner, incident spokesman for the Fish Creek Fire.
“It’s really important for the public to understand this fire is burning larger fuels, what we call thousand-hour fuels,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “We need a significant amount of moisture over a long period before it has a permanent impact on the fire.”
The trees were only at about 12% humidity Monday, which is "pretty dry," he said, adding that layer of snow on the ground would help more than a morning shower.
More moisture from the next cold front could also bring some relief to the Remington and House Draw Fires in northeastern Wyoming and southern Montana, but it’s too early to say.
Mountain Mayhem
It’s still summer in the Cowboy State, but the incoming low-pressure systems can be particularly volatile in the high-elevation corridors like Togwotee Pass. Day expects a lot of drivers were caught off-guard by the first snow of the season.
“I'm sure a lot of people driving over Togwotee Pass this morning were like, ‘What is this? I'm wearing shorts and a T shirt,’” he said. “As we get into September, for the next six to eight weeks or so, you need to be prepared for all seasons in the mountains.”
The snow that fell on Monday is unlike to stick around for the seasonal snowpack, but it’s a sign that the seasonal change is on its way. Day is working on his season forecast for Winter 2022-2025, but it’s still too early for winter.
“It's going to warm right back up again by this weekend,” he said. “It’s too early to say this is the start of winter, but you can encounter these snowy conditions in the mountains. Just be prepared for the changes up there.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
