Wyoming’s going to be scorching on Friday, so you better savor it. Starting Saturday, temperatures, rain, and snow will start falling at an alarming rate.
Laramie and Cheyenne could break their record highs for Friday with temperatures near or at 80, while Lusk is expecting to hit 83 .
By Sunday, it could be 30 degrees or more cooler.
It’ll be 62 degrees and sunny at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park on Friday. By Sunday, the boardwalks could be covered with a few inches of snow.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation isn’t taking any chances, announcing U.S. Highway 212 — aka the Beartooth Highway — will close at noon Friday because of “snow, high winds and blizzard conditions” in the forecast from Friday night through Saturday.
That meas Friday might be the last nice, unseasonably warm day of the season.
“September was an interesting month, but there’ll be a big change this weekend,” said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day. “There's going to be a lot of ups and downs in October, but we’re starting with significant snow in the mountains and temperatures that are 30 to 35 degrees cooler this weekend.”
Aiming High
September 2025 wasn’t as hot as September 2024, but it was a warmer, wetter month than average. That streak is expected to continue into the first few days of October with a particularly warm Friday.
“We're looking at some very warm temperatures for this time of year on Thursday and Friday,” said Michael Natoli with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Cheyenne. “We've got highs in the upper 70s and low 80s in the forecast, with a high of 90 in Torrington on Friday.”
Laramie’s record-high for Oct. 3 is 76 degrees. It might break that record with an anticipated high of 77 on Friday.
Cheyenne’s high on Friday will be around 80, just a few degrees short of its record-high of 83. Other areas in southern Wyoming will be close to breaking their high-temperature records and may do so.
“This isn't really, maybe a record-shattering event, but definitely close to near record high temperatures,” Natoli said.
Meanwhile, temperatures in northern Wyoming will be warm, but not record-breaking.
“We're looking anywhere between five and eight degrees from record highs on Friday,” said Molly Gerhart with the NWS office in Riverton. “The record high for Riverton is 82, and our current forecast is 79.”
That’s not bad for the first days of October, so Wyomingites will want to make the most of it. It’ll be a hard fall into fall after that.
Falling Low (With Snow)
Once the weekend arrives, a cold front is going to hit Wyoming hard. Laramie’s potential record-breaking high of 77 on Friday will be followed by a high of 52 on Sunday, a two-day drop of 25 degrees.
It’ll be 80 degrees and sunny in Sheridan on Friday, transitioning to a high of 52 degrees with a chance of snow on Sunday. That’s a drop of 28 degrees.
“There'll be places that will get 30 to 35 degrees colder from Friday to Sunday,” Day said. “I do see the potential for at least some flakes of snow for some lower elevations of the state, and significant snowfall in the northern and western mountains.”
“Significant” might be an understatement.
“We are forecasting anywhere from 10 to 18 inches, generally, all across the higher elevations, for the entire weekend,” Gerhart said.
Some projections anticipate 10 and 16 inches of snow at the highest points of the Beartooth and Bighorn Mountains, and up to 6 inches across most of Yellowstone. It hasn’t been persistently cold enough for all that snow to stick, but it could be enough to close the Beartooth Highway for the weekend, if not end the season altogether.
Most of this snow will remain above 8,000 feet, but Wyomingites should take the hint. As the air gets cooler, it’s easier for snow to creep lower into the rest of the state.
“The snow level is dropping because we’ll be getting much colder temperatures across the state,” Gerhart said. “With a pretty strong cold front coming through late Friday night into Saturday, and the whole system through the weekend, it’ll be quite a bit of snow.”
Natoli recommended that gardeners in southern Wyoming use Friday’s warmth to their advantage. Come Sunday, they won’t have the opportunity.
“We might be looking at some freezing temperatures on Sunday or Monday morning,” he said. “We are forecasting a low of 32 in Laramie, 34 in Rollins, and 35 in Cheyenne on Monday morning, so you might want to clear out your gardens.”
This is all subject to change as weather patterns shift, but there’s no doubt that a significant shift will occur over the weekend.
“We're that close to freezing, it's definitely time to start thinking about the end of the summer season as we head into these colder temperatures,” Natoli said.
Dancin’ In September
September was a good month for most of Wyoming. Temperatures were slightly above average, but precipitation was significantly above average for several areas, particularly in central and southeastern Wyoming.
“Douglas received 3.21 inches of rain in September,” Natoli said. “That’s the wettest September recorded in the last 26 years.”
All of the NWS’ major recording stations in Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins, and Casper also reported above-average rainfall in September. Temperatures, meanwhile, were at or slightly above average.
It was also an above-average September for regions in west-central Wyoming. Molly Gerhart with the NWS office in Riverton said this was the seventh-wettest September on record for the Riverton area.
“The Wind River Basin overall was warmer and wetter in September,” she said. “But other areas were actually drier than average for most of the month. The storms that came through a couple of weeks ago were our main precipitation makers for the month.”
Day believes September was pretty perfect for most of Wyoming: not too hot, not too cold, and more moisture than average, which he considers a net positive.
“Anytime you get a September where you can extend the growing season and also have moisture, that's really good,” he said. “We avoided a hard freeze. We got some moisture in southern and western Wyoming that was badly needed and very timely. We had episodes of snow in the mountains, but that’s what you would expect.”
Summer’s Done
The transition into October will be dramatic, as temperatures plummet from Friday to Sunday, but it won't be a continuous fall into winter from there.
“Early indication looks like we'll warm up after summer, and temperatures in the extended forecast are trending slightly above normal,” Gerhardt said. “We expect these quick swings when the seasons are changing. We’ll warm up after Sunday, but not by much.”
There could be another day with temperatures pushing 80 degrees before the end of October, but it isn’t likely. This Friday might be the warmest day Wyoming gets until spring returns in May or June 2026.
“Will the whole month of October be cold and stormy? No,” Day said. “But we're going to see the frequency of storms go up. We're going to see these storms tapping into colder air, and we’ll see snow in the lower elevations. This weekend, fall’s going to fully kick into gear.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
