After experiencing a winter that was not winter, a whole lot of Wyoming folks just endured one helluva spring.
Wyoming’s remarkable ability to dish out Jekyll-and-Hyde weather was on full display. In Lander, we hit the 90s on May 13 and then got blasted with wet snow on May 17. In five days, we went from summer to spring to winter and back to spring and then right back to summer.
Nothing unusual, say the old-timers. And, of course: “We can use the moisture.”
Grads Throwing Snowballs
Lander saw something Monday you just don’t see much anywhere in America: graduates in full regalia, outside in a snowstorm, having a full-blown snowball fight.
The 43 seniors at Wyoming Catholic College had their formal photos taken inside at the community center. Then somebody got the bright idea to head outside for a portrait in eight inches of heavy, wet snow. That’s when things turned.
As soon as the picture was taken, the snowballs started flying. It didn’t take long before it was a full-scale melee. One of those moments nobody there will ever forget.
Their commencement speaker was Kelsey Reinhardt, a Gillette native who now heads CatholicVote, a 300,000-member group involved in lobbying and monitoring political issues nationwide.
She gave a terrific speech. Reinhardt is a former Gillette basketball standout who played on Notre Dame’s national championship team.
Stranded in Rawlins
Andrew Rossi of Cowboy State Daily told a story that pretty much summed up the rest of the state.
He wrote about Rawlins resident Marianne Nelson, who has a 10-minute commute to work at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. She pulled onto Interstate 80 at 5:15 a.m. Monday. By 11 a.m., she hadn’t moved.
“I’ve got three semitrucks parked in front of me,” she told Rossi. “I guess there’s a tow truck somewhere, but he’s stuck, too. I can’t see anything, and I only have a quarter tank of gas.”
Both lanes of Interstate 80 between Rock Springs and Cheyenne were shut down by mid-morning. Wet, heavy snow piled up fast, turning the highway into slush. Wind gusts hit 45 mph, creating whiteout conditions that forced drivers to stop wherever they could.
At the same time, a transmission line in Carbon County went down around 2 a.m., knocking out power in Rawlins, Sinclair, and Wamsutter for most of the day.
That didn’t help WYDOT. “They couldn’t fuel up in Rawlins because the power was out,” Bar Nunn resident Jodi Burrer said. “They had to run the plows down to Sinclair to fill up.”
Crazy Weather
Back in Lander, it had been 90 degrees just days earlier. That tells you everything you need to know.
I’ve always said Wyoming doesn’t really have a spring. What we often get, instead, is “false spring,” followed by “still winter.” This year proved it.
The storm triggered a major power outage across Carbon County. Rocky Mountain Power’s John Whitesides said a broken crossarm, halfway between the Platte and Whiskey Peak substations, was to blame. First reports came in from Rawlins at 2:27 a.m.
“We have one transmission line that feeds those communities,” he said. “When that line goes down, the power’s gone.” Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken set up an incident command post as schools and businesses shut down.
Rossi’s story told about Search and Rescue crews being mobilized to help transport residents needing oxygen to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, which stayed open.
And then, just to make things more interesting, communications started acting up. “Verizon was experiencing issues with outgoing calls from our communications center,” Bakken said. “We could receive calls just fine, but couldn’t get calls out to Verizon numbers.”
Just another day in Wyoming.
Drought? What Drought?
Before this storm, things were starting to look a little scary across much of the state: dry ground, rising fire danger, not enough irrigation water. Then came the snow.
Depending on your perspective, it was either a blessing or a mess.
My friend Warren Thompson, who raises cattle, called it a “Million-Dollar Storm.” I was out in the yard picking up broken tree limbs and wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.
With the warm winter and early spring, trees were already leafed out. That heavy, wet snow did a number on them. Limbs snapped everywhere.
Still, we’ve seen worse.
The all-time Lander snowfall record came in April 1999 with 52 inches of wet snow. Beautiful, yes. But, also a little frightening.
We owned the newspaper then, and I slapped the banner headline “Storm of the Century” across the front page.
This one didn’t rise to that level, but it sure brought back memories. Now let’s hope for a wet June and reservoirs full enough to carry us through late summer and fall.
Bill Sniffin can be reached at Bill@cowboystatedaily.com
