Wyoming’s unseasonably warm weekends are officially over. Another wave of cold weather will envelop Wyoming this week, making it cold enough for overnight temperatures to dip into the single digits.
The system creeping in from the Pacific Northwest isn’t especially cold. Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said it has more cold air behind it, which means the chill in the air will last much longer and dip much deeper.
“It’ll be a blustery, chilly, unsettled weather,” he said. “I'd call this the strongest cold front of the fall season to date, and it is certainly going to be very cold for the next two nights.”
Busier And Colder
With a La Niña in full effect over the Pacific Ocean, Day said the winter weather patterns it’s sending into the Western U.S. are getting bigger and busier. The wall of warmer weather collapsed after last week’s system that dropped the first wet, heavy snow of the season across central Wyoming.
This week’s weather isn’t carrying any subzero temperatures from the Arctic, but has a larger well of cold air than earlier systems. Day said that will become “the status quo” for the rest of the year.
“The fronts start getting colder because they have more cold air behind them now,” he said. “Temperatures will moderate a little before the weekend, but there will be a lot of single-digit temperatures overnight on Wednesday and Thursday.”
The frigid front will arrive Tuesday afternoon with some precipitation, especially in northern Wyoming. Day doesn’t expect a lot of snow, but it’ll be enough to stick around and potentially cause some road hazards.
“The snow will start moving in late Tuesday and into Wednesday,” he said. “I don’t see this as ‘a big snow.’ Probably one to three inches in the lower elevations, four to eight inches in the northern mountains, and several inches in Jackson and Star Valley.”
Yellowstone National Park should get a decent dusting of snow, but that shouldn’t cause too much trouble in early November. The park’s summer season officially ended on Halloween when the East, South, and West Entrances closed to all vehicle traffic.
Frigid temperatures will follow the snow. Unlike the snow, which will predominantly favor the highest points of northern Wyoming, the colder temperatures will be felt everywhere.
“The entire state will have overnight lows in the teens, especially from Wednesday to Thursday,” he said. “If we compare it to an average temperature, it’ll be 10 to 15 degrees below average.”
Meanwhile, Day said “the usual cold spots” like Pinedale and Big Piney should expect single-digit overnight lows during the same period, especially if there’s snow on the ground.
“That’s what you get with a cold front in early November,” he said.
Daylight Saving Danger
The clocks went back an hour on Sunday, courtesy of daylight saving time. Now that sunset is occurring earlier each evening, Day wants Wyoming drivers to be aware of the added risks to their evening commutes.
“We're starting to get darker earlier now, and so eventually, this happens when people are going home from work,” he said. “We tend to get a lot of black ice in these situations, so that’s something to keep in mind.”
Even while Day doesn’t expect much snow for most of Wyoming, one to three inches is still enough to cause significant road hazards. That snow can melt during daylight, only to freeze into black ice once the sun sets.
Day cautioned evening commuters to stay alert while heading home this week. It doesn’t take much snow — or much black ice — to cause serious problems.
“I’ve noticed that black ice becomes more of a problem after the time change,” he said, “because when it comes to driving, it doesn't have to snow a lot to be a problem.”
Do It Now
While the change from unseasonably warm weeks persisted into late October, those days are over for the season. Anyone who hasn’t winterized their homes, vehicles and wardrobes will want to do so as quickly as possible.
“These systems always catch people off-guard, especially with as warm as it’s been,” he said. “Lots of folks probably hadn’t taken out their winter coats, gloves, and hats before last week and probably waited a long time to blow out their sprinklers or possibly haven't done it yet.”
Day’s weekly message for those Wyomingites is simple: if you haven’t done it yet, do it now.
“We’ve been kind of stair-stepping into winter,” he said. “As we go down the stairs, it’s getting colder. This week, instead of one step down, it’ll be two steps down. It’s a little bit quicker now, but this is what we should expect as we get deeper into the winter season.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
