Most of Wyoming is avoiding the worst of the Thanksgiving week weather. It’s going to be cold and mostly quiet this week and into the weekend, except on the I-80 corridor.
The worst winter weather swung south of Wyoming, wreaking havoc on Colorado and Utah. Anyone heading south for the holiday should anticipate delays, accidents, and hazardous road conditions.
“I don't want to say there's nothing to worry about this week,” said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day. “It’s always good to check the conditions before you head on out. But I know a lot of people are going to be traveling tomorrow. If you have to go through Utah or Colorado, you have to allow a lot of extra time.”
Southern Storm
An intense winter weather system descended on Colorado and Utah on Tuesday and will continue raging into Wednesday. Wyoming isn’t immune, as the storm is large enough to cause problems on the Interstate 80corridor.
“We do have some pretty lousy conditions in parts of Wyoming right now,” Day said. “The worst travel conditions are now through mid-morning tomorrow, with the biggest impacts on the I-80 corridor and the western mountains and valleys. Everything I see suggests icy conditions from Evanston to Elk Mountain.”
However, Wyoming will miss most of this storm, while Colorado, Utah and Nevada are getting hammered with heavy snow and low temperatures. The Facebook group Denver & Front Range Weather described travel over the Continental Divide as “difficult, if not impossible,” with up to two feet of snow expected in the mountains.
Day said every mountain range in Colorado was under a Winter Storm Warning on Tuesday. That should be enough warning to anyone planning a trip through the Centennial State.
“Anywhere you go in Colorado, you're going to be driving through something,” he said. “It's a combination of this winter storm and everyone on the road. When you start getting multiple accidents and pileups, that's where it gets bad. It’s a domino effect of bad weather, accidents, road closures, and delays.”
Further north, delays and accidents were reported on I-80 on Tuesday. While the worst of this winter storm should stay south, it’s close enough to bring some of its chaos to southern Wyoming — something Day wants drivers to know.
“Everything is lining up to be just south,” he said. “That's why the southern part of the state is getting the weather. If you’re in the car driving between Evanston and Rawlins today or tomorrow, it won't be fun.”
Calm And Cloud
Thanksgiving Day will be mostly calm and quiet in Wyoming. Day doesn’t anticipate any widespread winter weather, but it’ll be chilly on the backyard gridiron for anyone planning a family-friendly football game.
“It’s going to be persistently cold,” he said. “Most of Wyoming will have highs in the 20s and 30s on Thanksgiving Day, and it’ll be in the teens for lows.”
Weather-wise, there won’t be much going on across the Cowboy State. Aside from some snow flurries in northern Wyoming, mainly along the Montana state line, there should be mostly sunny skies across most of Wyoming.
That pattern should persist into the weekend, so anyone driving through Wyoming should have a relatively safe trip. However, Day doesn’t want people to expect pristine pavement on the highways home.
“When it stays cold and you've got snow flurries, you could still have some slick spots,” he said. “What I would be on the lookout for is blowing snow and areas of black ice in the southern and western parts of the state and the mountain passes on Friday and the weekend. You’ve always got to watch out for those at this time of year.”
Subzero Swing And A Miss
Looking into the first week of December, Wyoming will once again avoid the worst of a winter weather system. A surge of cold air will move into the Great Plains next week and is anticipated to cause problems in the Midwest and around the Great Lakes.
“It's going to go subzero in North Dakota and Minnesota, with really big lake effect snows in the Great Lakes,” Day said. “There’s going to be a lot of winter next week, but not here. It's going to be east of us.”
Day said Wyoming will experience some “moderation in temperatures” during the subzero surge in the Midwest but will remain largely untouched by this system. It will be “a fairly significant break” for Wyoming’s weather.
“We're certainly in a winter pattern, but the good news for this part of the country is the worst of this first cold shot is going east of us,” he said. “We're getting a glancing blow, but the direct hit is to our east.”
Us Eventually
The fact that Wyoming is dodging several winter weather systems this holiday weekend is good news, but it’s only a matter of time before winter’s wrath arrives at its full strength. Although, according to Day, that typically isn’t in December.
“We don't tend to have heavy, foot-and-a-half type snowstorms in December,” he said. “Those usually come later, and the heaviest snow falls in the mountains rather than the lower elevations.
That doesn’t mean December will be devoid of snow. Day believes the weekend after Thanksgiving could be the first big surge of the season for the Cowboy State.
It all comes down to positioning and the strength of the seasonal shift. Colorado and Utah might be smothered with snow this holiday, but Wyoming could get its due before the end of the year.
“By the weekend after this one, I think we'll start talking about snow coming into Wyoming,” he said. “If this week’s system was setting up a hundred miles further north, it’d be much worse for us. But it’s still not going to be great in southern Wyoming, and, if you can, Colorado and Utah are areas to avoid if you’re driving.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
