Incredibly, the mercury hit 80 degrees in Greybull on March 27 of this year. That was indicative of the vagaries of Wyoming’s spring weather.
Then as much as 15 inches of heavy wet snow dropped in places like Lander and other cities and towns around Wyoming on Easter weekend.
Former Mayor Mick Wolfe said on Friday, Lander had 15 heavy inches of snow on the ground and by Monday: Poof! It was gone.”
Welcome to the Cowboy State and its erratic spring weather!
Winter, Spring, Winter, Spring
After driving around this big old state this spring, it seems like it is high time to officially proclaim our new state theme:
High Winds, Blowing Snow, Slick in Spots!
Is it really April 27, 2025, already? Hard to believe that a third of this year has already passed. And although some experts had earlier proclaimed the winter of 2024-2025 as one of the mildest in history, these past three weeks were not.
Spring snowstorms caught up with many travelers on Interstate 80,and Interstate 25.
One statistic that always looms in the back of my mind is that 97 percent of the traffic on Interstate 80 consists of people from outside Wyoming; cars, trucks and RVs just passing through.
If this is the case, then the slogan suggested at the beginning of this column is one these folks see year-around when they travel through our state. So maybe it’s time we made it official? Just joking. I actually used it as the title of my third book.
I wonder what John Waggener of Laramie thinks about Wyoming springs? He is author of the book Snow Chi Minh Trail – the definitive work about the weather vagaries of driving Interstate 80 at all times of the year.
Waggener reports: “Wyoming’s portion of Interstate 80 is 403 miles in length. It is a high-elevation road exposed to extreme weather. Except for the eastern most portion of I-80 near the Nebraska border, Interstate 80 is above 6,000 feet in elevation. Much of it sits over 7,000 feet. The Summit area east of Laramie is situated above 8,000 feet and approaches 8,000 feet near Arlington.
“Travelers are more prepared for changing conditions when they are traveling on one of Wyoming’s mountain pass roads such as South Pass, Powder River Pass, Snowy Range Pass, or Togwotee Pass. But when travelers are on a big Interstate highway in open country, there is a tendency to think road and travel conditions will be fine from spring through fall.
“That just is not the case with the I-80 corridor. The terrain and elevation mix to create extreme weather situations during what might be called the transition seasons from spring to summer (late April to early June) and summer to fall (mid-August to early September.) Several horrible crashes on I-80 have occurred during these transition seasons. As winter fades into spring, travelers can let their guard down and get comfortable with pleasant driving conditions only to find themselves in horrible driving conditions.
“Dense fog near the Summit between Laramie and Cheyenne can cause real problems for travelers in late spring and in late summer. Strong winds also are not uncommon during these transition seasons, which really impact commercial truck operators and drivers pulling travel trailers.
“The Interstate 80 corridor can experience very strong summer storms that produce strong hailstorms that can bring the flow of traffic to a halt. It is a road that demands year-round respect.”
Talking To Laramie
This all reminded me of a speech I gave to a group of distinguished men and women at the Laramie Lyceum a couple of decades ago. Although it didn’t seem like many people agreed with the idea to make such a slogan official, a lot of heads nodded at the idea that this is the message a lot of travelers have in their heads after they have passed through Wyoming.
As memory serves me right, my talk was a rambling one and included some of the economic development efforts we accomplished in Lander during the mid-1980s. One of our most successful programs was a program recruiting vigorous retirees to Lander.
When my audience was told that Lander was once listed as one of the “ten least windy places in the country,” a member of the audience chimed in: “What state is Lander in?”
Seems that folks in windy Laramie found it hard to believe that anywhere in our state could be virtually wind-less, but Lander is. This is even more amazing when you realize that Wyoming is the most-windy state of them all.
I have been a private pilot since 1978 and always felt that ironically, it may have been a handicap being a pilot based in Lander, because of our lack of wind. Pilots from other parts of the state were veterans with cross wind landings and gusty experiences. My fellow pilots and I in Lander were not so fortunate, it seemed – especially during these crazy Wyoming springs.
And Don Day Says . . .
Cowboy State Daily writer Andrew Rossi quoted weather expert Don Day in a recent story about this:
Day says: “The weather is never even in Wyoming. It's never the same for everybody. The forecast depends on where you are. All we can do is try to hit what overall trends will be and try our best on the timing.”
He recommends Wyomingites stay diligent about checking daily forecasts at this time of year so they can make more informed decisions about the weather. “It becomes a mindset,” he said. “It’s a little bit psychological, but sometimes the computer modeling performance is poor, and there can be significant changes within a week.”
“When we get two or three days of 70 and 80-degree temperatures,” he said, “it’s easy for people to rest on their laurels, especially if they haven’t lived or grown up around here. But it means nothing.”
