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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

If you thought it was warmer than usual this weekend, you aren’t dreaming. 

Record high temperatures were set across the state on Saturday and Sunday and more records could be toppled on Monday as the unseasonable weather for the area continues.

You know it’s a heat wave when Big Piney, Wyoming — frequently known as the icebox of the nation — hits 70 degrees in April, which it did on Sunday.

Normally this time of year, Big Piney averages 44 degrees for the high temperature.

Records also fell in Buffalo, Casper, Cheyenne, Cody, Lander, Laramie, Rawlins, Riverton, and Rock Springs.

Some of the previous record highs had been around for a long, long time too.

Cheyenne’s high of 76 degrees on Sunday broke a 132-year record as the previous high of 72 degrees had stayed on the record books since 1889 — before Wyoming was a state.

The real hot stuff occurred just to the east of Wyoming where Scottsbluff, Nebraska hit 85 degrees. That beat the former high of 81 degrees which was set back in 1942.

As it’s April in Wyoming, these warm temperatures won’t stick around for long.

As Dubois artist Gary Keimig said on Saturday: “We are in what might be called a false Spring.”

Record high temperatures for some areas of Wyoming will likely continue on Monday before a cold front rushes in and brings more typical April-like weather to Wyoming.

Enjoy it while it lasts…

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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily

It’s dry here.

It may not look it, but much of Wyoming has been declared a primary natural disaster area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture due to continuing drought conditions.

From Goshen County to Carbon, from Albany County to Big Horn, farmers in 19 Wyoming counties have been offered the option to apply for emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.

Don Day, founder of DayWeather and known as “Wyoming’s Weatherman,” said the trouble began, ironically, around the same time as the pandemic hit.

“Right around this time, last year, March and April, in May, we started to go into what’s called a La Nina,” he said. “And when the Pacific gets colder near the equator, Wyoming and the surrounding region tends to go into drier patterns. But this is the strongest La Nina we’ve seen in 10 to 11 years – and that’s one reason why 2020 started to go dry.”

Day explained that there’s a pattern to the La Nina effect.

“What’s interesting, they’re spaced about every 10 or so years apart,” he said. “We had a similar situation in 2011-2012, and a very similar situation in 1999 to 2001. So there’s cyclical natures to these dry periods.”

David Northrup’s family has farmed in the Powell area for over 100 years, and has seen it all when it comes to weather. And having spent eight years in Wyoming’s House of Representatives, Northrup knows that not everyone understands what farmers in the state go through.

“A lot of the people there are ranching people — and they utilize land in a different way,” he explained. “So that means in the spring, when they’re turning cattle or sheep livestock onto the hillsides, they have to be careful about that and be conscious about that growth.”

But because Wyoming is a rural state, the dry weather pattern will affect more than just agricultural producers. Northrup pointed out that when the grass struggles to grow, people who keep horses for recreational purposes will feel the crunch as well.

“Because even if you got one or two horses sitting in your backyard that you use for recreation, finding hay for them can be just as tough as it is for the guy that’s got five or 600 head of cattle,” he said.

But not every farmer and rancher in the state will be affected by the lack of water from the sky. Northrup pointed out that the canal system devised by Buffalo Bill Cody in the early 1900s has protected Park County agriculture from the worst.

“For us locally here as farmers, we’re pretty well protected,” he said. “Unless we don’t get snow in the mountains — if we don’t get snow in the mountains, then we’re not in a good position.”

Right now the mountain snowpack looks good for this summer, Northrup said.

“We’re over 100% again, which is just a blessing,” he explained, gesturing to the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains. “And you go to the south, and you go down and look at the other side of the Owl Creek mountains, and they are 79%.”

But for the rest of the state, there’s a giant dark blotch on the map that indicates that snowpack is poor, and surface water is inadequate for ranching and farming. That’s despite the big storm that hit much of Wyoming earlier this month. 

Day noted even though the equivalent of up to two inches of rain fell onto the thirsty landscape in some places, because of the ongoing La Nina weather pattern, the drought conditions will most likely continue.

“That has been rather stubborn now going on for better than a year, and the worst ones tend to go two years — and the predictions are right now that at least until early fall, some form of La Nina is going to continue,” Day explained. “And if it does, the spring and summer of 2021, for many parts of the West, may be drier than normal again. So even with this recent, very wet storm for certain parts of the region, it’s not enough to erase the drought.”ge saying if no such plan was developed by mid-2023, the authority would be dissolved.

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

A Californian driving a Mini Cooper through Sunday’s blizzard caused some major problems in Laramie area when he ventured out on Interstate 80.

A Wyoming State Trooper called Wyoming air personality Glenn Woods’ radio program Monday morning to discuss the impact of the Californian who mistakenly went out on the Interstate to see if the roads were fit for a Mini Cooper.

They weren’t, of course, and the Californian got stuck on the Interstate.

At least two snowplow drivers who were trying to avoid the Mini Cooper got in an accident which halted cleanup activity in the area.

Subsequently all of the snowplows were then stuck on I-80 until the wreckage could be moved from the road which severely impacted all cleanup efforts for miles.

“Because of this one individual, our entire fleet of plow trucks were landlocked,” the trooper said. “This cost thousands of dollars to the truckers and really hampered snow removal efforts.”

But it didn’t stop there. Because this portion of the Interstate was closed, drivers tried to divert away from the closure by going through Laramie itself.

Problem was, the roads were worse inside the city than on the Interstate. 

“These drivers got stranded in drifts all over Grand Avenue,” the trooper said.  

The exasperated trooper said it took more than four hours to clean up the mess created by the Californian. Plus, numerous snow plows — instead of plowing roads — were sidelined during the ordeal.

“If we can keep the plows moving, we stand a better chance of keeping up with the storm,” he said. “Once you gridlock us, we’re done.”

Sadly, the Californian was not arrested but was ticketed and had to pay the cost for the tow back to Laramie.

“When you get those tow bills as a result of these bad decisions, that’s quite a punishment in itself,” the trooper said.

Hopefully there’s a comma in that tow bill.

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