Wyoming weather Archives | Cowboy State Daily

Shoshone Forest Campgrounds, Roads Closed By Flooding

Published on June 16, 2022June 16, 2022 in weather

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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily
Wendy@CowboyStateDaily.com

The precipitation, snowmelt, and runoff that caused devastation in Yellowstone National Park and the Custer-Gallatin National Forest earlier this week are also affecting northern portions of the Shoshone National Forest.

Kristie Thompson, public affairs officer for the Shoshone National Forest in Cody, told Cowboy State Daily that several campgrounds, roads and trails were closed due to flooding.

“We did have a few different campgrounds that we had to move campers out of, as well as some of our own staff,” Thompson said.

She explained that campers, volunteers and U.S. Forest Service staff were removed from the Big Game Campground, the Wapiti Campground and the Clearwater Campground, all located on the highway between Cody and Yellowstone National Park.

“Some left on their own, others had to be assisted out, but we were able to safely remove everyone,” Thompson said.

She added that visitors to the northern part of the Forest, however, should be aware that the weather event that caused this week’s flooding might not be over.

“We know that the water could go up again, because we have some very hot temperatures coming at the end of this week,” Thompson noted. “And we still have good snow up in the mountains. So we could have another – hopefully not as large – but we could have some more flooding happen this weekend. And if that happens we don’t want anyone stuck in those campgrounds. So for now, campgrounds are staying closed.”

Thompson said that Wapiti, Clarks Fork, and Greybull District Ranger Casey McQuiston wants to keep as many areas open to the public as possible, urging visitors to use their best judgment if they plan to visit the forest.

“We know that there are a lot of people who had planned trips to the Greater Yellowstone area and are now having to adjust itineraries because of closures,” said McQuiston, pointing out that the Shoshone National Forest remains open to visitors.

“The Washakie and Wind River Ranger districts of the Shoshone National Forest have not been as impacted as the northern portion of the Shoshone, and there are wonderful recreational opportunities on that end of the Shoshone as well,” McQuiston added.

Thompson said there are four campgrounds currently still open in the Wapiti District and one more will open at the beginning of July.

“The forest itself does not have any damage to any developed recreation sites,” Thompson said, with the exception of the three campgrounds that are experiencing flooding. “So those all still exist for people to go enjoy. We do understand that there are some washouts that are unsafe for people to cross, so we don’t want people to go through areas that are not safe for them to go out and come back. But there is still a huge amount of the forest available for recreation.”

Thompson said Shoshone National Forest staff will continue to evaluate the situation and will respond to changing conditions, getting information out to the public as soon as possible. Visitors should plan ahead and visit the Shoshone National Forest website (http://www.fs.usda.gov/shoshone) and Facebook page (US Forest Service – Shoshone National Forest) for updates on any areas that may be closed or impacted.

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A Return To Summer: Tornadoes, Funnel Clouds, Hail, 90 Degree Temps, And Snow

Published on June 8, 2022June 8, 2022 in weather

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Summer weather is back in Wyoming as evidenced by Tuesday’s weather. It was nice and springy in some areas while other parts of experienced a bit more excitement like tornadoes, funnel clouds, and hail.

The National Weather Service of Cheyenne sent out a note on Wednesday morning wondering if anyone had more information about a funnel cloud spotted just east of Lusk.

“Quite the capture!” they wrote of the “brief tornado” which was taken near Duck Creek Ranch just north of Highway 20 at around 2:30pm.

The photo was taken by Garrett Wurdeman and shared with KNEB-TV in Nebraska.

Tornado Chaser Reed Timmer was paying attention to this twister. He had high regard for it.

“Possible TOTY (tornado of the year) east of Lusk, WY yesterday,” Timmer tweeted. “Would have been a solo intercept on Hwy 20 near the historical site. Important to chase the backdoor targets during high plains insanity.”

Timmer did not explain why the tornado could be so highly valued.

The National Weather Service officially declared it a EF 1. That’s the second to the smallest of the “ranked tornadoes.” Still nothing to sneeze at though.

These EF 1s have winds from 86 – 110mph. Some may say that it would be like living in Clark, Wyoming.

There was some real damage associated with this tornado, however.

Fencing was blown down, roofs were torn off, trees were uprooted,

“The more impressive damage was a barn roof and partial second level were torn off and thrown 50 to 100 yards to the southeast,” the weather service said.

Weather spotter, Kelle Kristeen Moore, produced a photo of another funnel cloud taken the day before 32 miles northeast of Douglas (above).

Not to be outdone, the Thermopolis Independent Record shared a photo of a funnel cloud five miles north of the town taken at 11:30 am on Wednesday (below).

*^{Photo by Lara Love, Thermopolis Record}*

But the real weather on Wednesday happened east of Wyoming in Sidney, Nebraska. A severe storm dropped more than 10 inches of hail in the community.

According to News Channel Nebraska, the storm lasted four hours and produced ping pong sized hail in numerous towns.

Other Nebraska communities received up to two inches of rain.

In Wyoming, Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day is predicting 90 degree temperatures in the southern and central parts of the state by this weekend and then snow is actually in the forecast.

What Day is calling an “impressive spring storm” will bring wintry-like weather to higher elevations in some parts of the state.

“Spring is still fighting,” Day said. “We are going to do a complete reverse. We have a big summer warmup and then spring comes back and says I’m not done with you yet.”

Somewhat apologetically, Day said he hated to mention the word but snow was a possibility on Monday night and Tuesday in the higher elevations of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado.

“Nothing like what we had over Memorial Day weekend but a mid-June snowfall in the highest elevations can’t be ruled out,” he said. “This front is really impressive.”

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Weather Service Got This One Right! Snowstorm That Dumped 3 Feet In NW Wyo Was Predicted

Published on May 31, 2022May 31, 2022 in weather

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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily

Call it one of those cases where the weatherman got one right.

The major winter storm that left dozens of motorists stranded in northwest Wyoming on Monday did not come as a surprise, according to a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Riverton.

However, despite winter storm advisories warning of snowfall of up to 2 feet in the area, drivers found themselves trapped on mountain roadways of the Bighorn Basin.

“We’ve been anticipating this storm system for, like, five to seven days,” Brett McDonald told Cowboy State Daily. “Saturday afternoon at about 2:30 (p.m.) is when the winter storm warning was issued for the Absarokas. And in that, we specifically mentioned total snow accumulations of 1 to 2 feet with potentially higher amounts on the southern half of the Absarokas.”

The Wyoming Department of Transportation webcam on the Chief Joseph Highway northwest of Cody caught several cars lined up in the snow, waiting for a WYDOT loader to clear the road.

WYDOT spokesperson Cody Beers told Cowboy State Daily that accumulations reached 2 to 3 feet on Dead Indian Pass.

“In addition to the people stuck at the top of Dead Indian Pass, there were 3 to 4 others stuck on the switchbacks on the west side of the pass,” Beers said. “Everybody stuck on the road was out of there safely by mid-afternoon (Monday).”

While many Cody area residents reported being stranded for more than 24 hours in the Sunlight Basin near Crandall on the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, the snowstorm didn’t just block traffic from the west. The Bighorn Mountains received significant snowfall, resulting in the closure of U.S. Highway 14A over the northern part of the range.

Brent Bien, who has been on the campaign trail as a gubernatorial candidate, was on his way to Cody to give the keynote speech for the Memorial Day service at the Wyoming State Veterans Memorial when he was delayed as he stopped to help a stranded motorist.

“I knew the weather was going to be bad up there over the Bighorns, so typically I get myself about four hours to get over to Cody,” Bien told Cowboy State Daily. “We came over kind of a rise (near Antelope Butte Ski Area), and it was snowing like crazy. I’d say there was probably at least at least 18 inches of snow up there. And I see right in the middle of the road there was a minivan that was just turned sideways.”

The driver and passenger of the van were an older couple from out-of-state, Bien said, who were not prepared for the spring storm.

“Another fellow in a pickup truck came from the other side, opposite of me, and we had to actually turn the minivan 180 degrees,” he said, “because once we got him oriented he couldn’t get up the hill, the roads were really slippery.”

After that 45 minute delay, Bien said he and his wife, Sue, were able to get to Cody just in time for the Memorial Day ceremony.

“When we drove back over (after the ceremony), it was snowing pretty hard up there again,” he said.

The storm, which brought heavy, wet snow to the mountains, also resulted in significant rain at lower elevations in the central part of the state.

“Lots of bowling ball-sized rocks fell all day on US14/16/20 (west of Cody),” said Beers, who praised the crews who kept the highway cleared. “All in all, great work by Cody maintenance!”

Yellowstone National Park received a decent snowfall, according to spokeswoman Linda Veress – but to her knowledge, no one was in need of rescue. Veress took the opportunity to remind visitors to be prepared for uncertain springtime weather.

“It’s springtime in the mountains, and the weather can be so variable that it’s really wise to check the forecast in advance of their visit, and just come prepared,” Veress told Cowboy State Daily. “Usually that means knowing what the road status is, what their weather forecast is, and then just bringing appropriate gear and clothing.”

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Massive Storm Dumps 3 Feet Of Snow In Northwest Wyo; Dozens Of Travelers Rescued

Published on May 30, 2022May 30, 2022 in weather

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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily

A major spring snow storm dumped more than 3 feet of snow on northwest Wyoming over the Memorial Day weekend, stranding dozens of travelers on the Chief Joseph Highway.

Dozens of people caught in the storm that closed Wyoming Highway 296, which connects Cody to Cooke City, Montana, and the Beartooth Highway, had to be rescued by Department of Transportation personnel, according to Cody Beers, a department public relations specialist.

“There were vehicles blocked there last night and spun out on the road,” Beers told Cowboy State Daily midday Monday. “There’s at least two feet of snow up on (Dead Indian Pass) and there was a pretty good line of cars, 10 to 12 cars backed up.”

To make matters worse, Beers said a pickup with a camper in the back had spun out, blocking the road for oncoming traffic.

As of late Monday morning, however, Beers said a WYDOT loader had arrived and was clearing the road so vehicles could pass.

“He’s been digging a trail down through the road,” he said, “and I’m sure he’s going to go clear to the bottom and see if there’s other people spun out on the switchbacks on the backside of Dead Indian (Pass).”

Additionally, Beers told Cowboy State Daily a power line had come down on the highway due to the heavy, wet snow, creating dangerous sparks.

“They had to wait for Rocky Mountain Power to remove the line,” he said, “So (snow removal crews are) trying to catch up now.”

The National Weather Service and Cowboy State Daily’s Don Day had predicted a major winter storm for the state’s northern and central mountains.

“There were warnings put out for 1 to 2 feet in the mountains and it looks like the National Weather Service hit a bullseye,” Beers said, “because it’s deep wet, heavy snow.

“I mean, it’s multimillion dollar snow right now for our farmlands and our mountains,” he continued, “but it comes on a holiday weekend when a lot of people are out there camping, weather forecast be damned.”

Beers urged people to stay off the highways if possible.

“I’m sure people made the decision to try to get out of (the mountains), and then it only took one vehicle to get stopped, to stop the entire convoy of vehicles coming out,” he said.

Chief Joseph was only one of the highways closed due to weather this weekend. Sylvan Pass closed at 6:30 a.m. Monday, cutting off the only access to Yellowstone from the East Gate; U.S Highway 14A was closed from Lovell to Dayton over the Bighorn Mountains, and Beartooth Pass, which was scheduled to open for the season this weekend, remained closed due to the winter storm.

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Water Levels At Wyoming Reservoirs Are Well-Below Capacities

Published on March 28, 2022 in Wyoming outdoors/weather

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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily

If water levels in reservoirs around Wyoming are looking a little low, well, they are.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and irrigation district officials across the state are reporting that reservoirs levels are well below their capacities.

In Cody, the Buffalo Bill Reservoir contains far less water than it has in the past.

David Merrell, with the Bureau of Reclamation office in Mills, told Cowboy State Daily that water behind the Buffalo Bill Dam is currently at 60% of its capacity.

However, Merrell said the bureau doesn’t anticipate any water shortages this year.

“Despite drier than normal conditions and below average storage in Buffalo Bill Reservoir, we do not currently anticipate a water shortage in the Bighorn Basin,” he said.

A graph charting water levels at Buffalo Bill for the last 30 years bears that out. Although the fact islands have surfaced at the shallower end of the reservoir, this year’s levels are still above those recorded in 2001. Levels that year were the lowest seen in the last 30 years and were 22 feet below current readings.

Other parts of the state are in a similar situation. Steve Lynn, with the Midvale Irrigation District in Pavillion, said he’s not worried about a lack of irrigation water this summer, although he is hoping spring storms will improve the outlook there.

“We’re sitting in a fairly good position right now,” he said. “It’s not great, but it’s good. Historically, over the last three years that I’ve been here, we’ve seen some pretty good storm events come through in April, which bolstered the snowpack and has put a little more rain down in the lower elevations.”

Bull Lake, which is the main storage reservoir for Fremont County irrigators, is only at about 60% of its capacity right now, according to Lynn, but he said runoff from the snowpack above the reservoir should provide plenty of water this summer.

“I think we’re just under 90,000 acre-feet right now, and the Bureau (of Reclamation) says there’s 150,000 acre-feet of water up in that drainage.”

An acre-foot is the amount of water required to cover one acre of land with 1 foot of water.

Similarly, Bonnie Hueckstaedt, with Eden Valley Irrigation in the state’s southwest corner, told Cowboy State Daily the region’s reservoir, the Big Sandy, is at about 68% of normal right now.

“It’s going to be a short year, unless we get more precipitation,” said Hueckstaedt. “We had a really short year for 2021. And the snow level, where our drainage starts at, is pretty low, only about 31 inches. Compared to last year around this date, it’s about 5 inches shorter than last year.”

Merrell pointed out that weather forecasts for the upcoming months predict a drier than normal spring and early summer.

“The long term forecast per NOAA for the April-June 3-month period is below average precipitation,” he said.

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Don Day Weather: Dangerous Wind Chills Ahead, Expect 40 Below Zero in Some Areas

Published on February 21, 2022February 21, 2022 in weather

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Wyoming will experience the coldest temperatures of the season this week with sub-zero lows being commonplace around the state, according to meteorologist Don Day.

Day said Monday that severe cold temperatures with severe wind chills dropping temperatures to 30 to 40 degrees below zero will occur in most areas of the state beginning on Monday night.

“Be ready for the big chill,” Day said. “It’s here. It’s not turning back. We’re going to have to deal with it through Friday.”

Day, in his morning forecast, produced a map showing the likely wind chills this week. Greybull and Basin may get the worst of it with a forecasted 42 degrees below zero possible.

The map also showed that every corner of the state will be affected by the wintry blast .

As for snow, Day cautioned that long portions of Interstate 80 from Sweetwater County to Albany County could be affected by snow and by high winds.

Southern central Wyoming appears to be the target of the most severe weather.

While Rock Springs and Laramie each had winter weather advisories posted, parts of Carbon County, including Rawlins, were under a winter storm warning, with snowfall of 6 to 12 inches forecast for Monday and Tuesday morning, along with wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

In northern Wyoming, Sheridan was under a winter storm warning until 6 a.m. Tuesday as forecasts called for up to 3 inches of snow with high winds leading to drifting snow and wind chills as low as 20 degrees below zero.

East-central Wyoming was under a wind chill warning through Thursday morning, with forecasts calling for wind chills as low as 40 degrees below zero.

The towns of Douglas and Lusk could receive 6 inches of snow in addition to the cold temperatures.

Wyoming’s two largest cities will be affected as well, Day’s forecast showed, with expected to receive more snow than Cheyenne.

The heaviest line of snow in central Wyoming was expected to occur along and south of a line from Jeffrey City to 20 miles north of Casper. Wind gusts in this area could top 45 mph.

In Cheyenne, meanwhile, a wind chill advisory was posted through Thursday morning with temperatures expected to drop to 9 degrees below zero and wind chills expected to plunge to 30 below.

Day said the weekend will warm up, but he expected another wintry blast heading into next week.

“We have what could be a large Western storm right around the fifth of March or the next weekend after this one,” he said.

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Arctic Blast On The Way: Sub-Zero Temps Could Last A Week

Published on February 20, 2022February 20, 2022 in Don Day

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Wyoming residents should prepare themselves for the coldest and longest Arctic outbreak of the season so far this year beginning on Monday.

Wyoming Meteorologist Don Day issued a special weather statement on Sunday morning to detail the incoming cold front which could bring with it sub-zero temperatures for nearly a week in some areas.

Snow will accompany the cold air in some areas with areas along Interstate 80 likely to receive the heaviest of snow. But it’s the cold weather that has the meteorologist most concerned.

“We’ve had some cold weather at times this winter, but it’s never really lasted more than a day or two,” Day said. “This is going to last for five or maybe six days.”

Day said the conditions for livestock producers will be “very dangerous” at times and warned those in calving or lambing operations to be prepared for severe cold for multiple days in row.

The cold air will enter the state on Monday and by Tuesday nearly all of Wyoming will be enveloped by the Arctic air with temperatures in the from 20 below to 30 below being commonplace and the wind chill could bring temperatures down to 40 degrees below zero.

“By Tuesday morning, the upper level trough becomes more mature and the door to Canada opens up for Arctic air to spill into the state,” he said.

As a result, most of Wyoming will see sub-zero overnight temperatures for multiple nights in a row.

As for snow, areas in northern Wyoming could receive heavy snow from Sunday through Tuesday.

Interstate 80 will be affected as a snow is expected in southern Wyoming from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning with some areas of Sweetwater, Carbon, and Albany counties receiving more than a foot of snow.

“Interstate 80 is going to get hit hard with heavy snow, wind, and Arctic conditions,” Day said.

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Storm Loosens Grip In Wyoming; Highways Re-open; High Winds Predicted

Published on January 6, 2022January 6, 2022 in weather

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By Wendy Corr, Ellen Fike and Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

Travel resumed on most of southeastern Wyoming’s highways on Thursday as a strong winter storm that dropped up to 18 inches of snow on parts of the state loosened its grip.

In the wake of the storm, Wyoming residents braced for brisk winds expected to cause the snow to blow and drift on Friday. However, the winds were also expected to bring warmer temperatures to the state, which shivered through sub-zero readings on Wednesday night.

““Wind is going to be the problem into Friday, but on the upside, it will cause some warmer temperatures,” said Brandon Wills, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “The southeastern part of the state will have gusty winds overnight Thursday and portions of Friday.”

Snowfall tapered off across the state Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. Accumulations from the storm ranged from 4 to 6 inches in Torrington to 5 to 8 inches in Cheyenne and 18 inches in LaGrange.

Eastern Wyoming from Wheatland to Rawlins was under a high wind warning until Friday, with gusts expected to reach 45 to 50 mph.

But Wills said there is no precipitation in the forecast for foreseeable future.

As the state shook off the impact of the storm, Interstate 80 remained closed Thursday between Cheyenne and Rawlins. Travel was possible from Rawlins to the Utah state line, although the segment of highway across western Wyoming was subject to rolling closures.

Interstate 25, which was closed between Cheyenne and Douglas for most of Wednesday, also opened for travel Thursday.

However, commenters on the “Wyoming Road and Weather Conditions Reports Updates” Facebook page continued to urge drivers to exercise caution in the face of some continuing bad conditions.

One commenter warned of a truck stuck in the wrong lane in a bend in the canyon on Wyoming Highway 230 north of Laramie. Others warned of white-out conditions, poor visibility and icy roads.

In the 24 hours between noon Wednesday and Thursday, the Wyoming Highway Patrol responded to 22 crashes on I80 and I25, two of those involving injuries, according to Sgt. Jeremy Beck.

In addition, Beck said that troopers also helped 92 stranded motorists, including semi-trailers and vehicles that were stuck or slid off the road.

Meanwhile, with a video showing a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper nearly being hit by an out-of-control car on an interstate highway fresh in memory, Wyoming Department of Transportation officials urged drivers to be careful, especially around highway workers.

Slick roads and careless drivers posed threats for highway workers during the storm, said Cody Beers, a senior public relations specialist with WYDOT.

“We’re seeing slick roads, and in some cases, people driving too fast for conditions,” he said.

He noted that because it’s been a while since there’s been a big snow event in many parts of the state, drivers can be out of practice for winter road conditions.

“I think anytime we haven’t had snow for a while, we have to retrain our drivers for winter conditions,” Beers said. “They need to realize that there are people out on the roadways that are trying to do their jobs, such as snow plow drivers, highway troopers, deputy sheriffs, local police, emergency responders, and it’s our number one priority out there to be safe.”

Beers praised the crews who are doing their best to clear the highways.

“Our guys are on top of it,” he said. “And they’re working some overtime, and we’re doing our job.”

Beers reminded motorists to be extra cautious.

“The whole idea is to go to work, get home safe, go to your destination, get home safe, get to your appointment safe,” Beers said. “So when it’s snowing and blowing and it’s icy and slippery, we need to slow down and get safely to our destination. It’s just common sense.”

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Wyo Trooper Nearly Hit By Vehicle As Storm Closes Highways Across State

Published on January 5, 2022January 5, 2022 in weather

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By Wendy Corr, Ellen Fike and Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

An out-of-control vehicle on a Wyoming highway nearly hit a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper on Wednesday as most of the state shivered through cold temperatures and snow left by a winter storm.

The storm forced the closure of sections of both Interstate 80 and 25 and the Wyoming Highway Patrol posted the video on its Facebook page to urge drivers to take care on the sections of the highway that remained open.

“One of our troopers recorded this video while working a crash on the Interstate. Please slow down, use caution, and plan ahead,” the department said.

The storm expected to bring up to 1 foot of snow to some lower elevations of the state stretched from Cody to Cheyenne on Wednesday, bringing with it strong winds that forced the closure of the highways.

The storm came as no surprise for the National Weather Service, whose forecasters had predicted the blast of wintery weather.

“We’re seeing the snowfall amounts that we’ve expected so far,” said Joshua Rowe, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Riverton. “The snow is lingering a bit longer up in Cody, and also in the Wind River Basin, as this cold arctic air has now moved in and hit the Absaroka Mountains and the Wind River Mountains and has gotten stuck up against that.”

Rowe said the snow in the central part of the state had stopped by Wednesday afternoon, for the most part.

However, before moving on, the storm left about 5 inches of snow in the Cody area.

The storm also left cold temperatures in its wake, with overnight lows expected to fall below zero.

“Since that arctic front has moved south of the Bighorn Basin and the Wind River Basin, it’s kind of stalled out along the Fremont and Sweetwater County line,” Rowe said. “Areas west of that are staying warm for now. They’ll start to drop though, especially overnight.”

The southern portion of the state also got hit with snow throughout Wednesday, with Cheyenne picking up anywhere from 3 to 5 inches by late in the day, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Rob Cox.

Torrington received around 4 inches of snow, while Wheatland was buried under about 9 inches.

Cox said another couple of inches would fall before the end of the night Wednesday.

“People should anticipate the snow to taper off late Wednesday, but it will be back again Thursday morning,” Cox said.

He said another couple of inches of snow could fall again Thursday, meaning that much of the southern part of the state could be buried in anywhere from 6 inches to 1 foot of snow by noon Thursday.

The meteorologist added that the wind chill in the Cheyenne area overnight Wednesday would be brutal, dropping to 5 to 20 degrees below zero.

In his Wednesday forecast, Wyoming meteorologist Don Day said it would be an “arctic surge” over the next 36 hours in Wyoming, making travel dangerous and conditions hazardous for livestock.

The storm forced the closure of Interstate 80 from Cheyenne to Rawlins and from Granger to Evanston, while Interstate 25 was closed from Cheyenne to Douglas.

As brisk winds continued to push snow across the interstate highways, road users predicted it could be a while before traffic would be moving normally again.

“I think it’s safe to say that all major roads in Wyoming will be closed for the next three days,” one commenter wrote on Wyoming Road and Weather Conditions Reports Updates” Facebook page.

As roads began closing Wednesday morning, reports of accidents along major highways began to surface on Facebook.

Accidents included an incident in which a semi-trailer hit a horse trailer on Interstate 80 east of Rawlins and one in which a Federal Express truck hit the back of a semi near Sinclair.

Others Facebook posts warned of multiple slide offs and stalled semis in the Bridger Valley section of I–80.

Between 1 a.m. Tuesday and 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reported 29 accidents on I80 and four more on 125. Of those, five resulted in injuries, according to WHP Spokesperson Sgt. Jeremy Beck.

Beck said that the storm had initially been centralized in one area and slowly crept across the state with multiple highway and road closures throughout the day.

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Wyoming Towns Annihilated Record Temperatures on Tuesday

Published on June 15, 2021June 16, 2021 in weather

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

It wasn’t just the breaking of high-temperature records, it was the obliteration of the records. Or annihilation. Or perhaps eradication. Decimation would work too, but that’s actually an incorrect usage of the word.

Whatever word or phrase you want to use to describe the heat wave that all but destroyed old high-temperature records in Wyoming on Tuesday, it happened. Simply put, it was hot.

Sheridan tied the highest temperature ever recorded in that town — on any day — by hitting 107 degrees on Tuesday. As for the date of June 15 itself, the previous record was a lukewarm 98 back in 1931.

You know it’s hot when Big Piney — the town known as the “Icebox of the Nation” — tops the 90 degree mark. It did. The icebox notched back-to-back records on Monday and Tuesday with temperatures of 90 and 91, respectively.

Worland topped a 34-year-old record by hitting 106 degrees on Tuesday, erasing the 102 degree record set back in 1987.

Thermopolis hit 104 degrees, which smashed its old record of 98 recorded in 1959.

Buffalo also hit the 104 mark and in doing so broke the old record by 19 degrees. The previous high was only 85 set only a year ago.

Cheyenne’s record high of 92 was impressive in that the old record was set before Wyoming was even a state. Its previous high was 90 and was recorded in 1888.

As for other records, the following communities also set all-time highs on Tuesday:

Laramie
Rawlins
Douglas
Casper
Cody
Lander
Riverton
Rock Springs

Certainly there were other communities that participated in the obliteration as well but these were the towns the weather services reported.

More records are possible this week. The big cool-down will begin on Friday.

In the meantime, try to stay cool, Wyoming. Summer isn’t here for long, so enjoy the heat!

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Summer Temps Set Records Across Wyoming

Published on June 4, 2021June 4, 2021 in weather

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

Summer hit Wyoming with temperatures hovering around 20 degrees above average in many parts of the state, setting record highs, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Though not unprecedented, Riverton meteorologist Noah Myers said, it’s also not typical of this time of year.

“It does happen,” Myers said, “and it’s definitely setting records and probably will (Friday), too.”

The National Weather Service data is based on information collected over the past 20 years from primary weather sites throughout the state.

The hotspot Thursday was Greybull with a high of 95 degrees, well above the average of 75 degrees for early June, breaking former record-high of 88 set in 2000.

Buffalo hit a high of 90 degrees, beating the former all-time high of 82 degrees for June 3 set last year. Gillette also hit a high of 90 on Thursday.

Big Piney’s daytime high of 85 on Thursday also set a record, beating the previous record of 82 set in 1986. Casper was slightly cooler at 84 degrees, tying its record high for the same day in 1992.

Riverton, too, saw an all-time high of 88 degrees, breaking a 19-year-old record. Rock Springs, meanwhile, also set a record at 78 degrees, 1 degree above the previous record of 77 set in 2020.

Slightly chillier but also setting a record high was Lander at 81 degrees, just one degree above 80 degrees on the same day last year.

Even Lake Yellowstone registered a new record of 75 degrees for Thursday, 5 degrees above its previous record set in 2004. Typically, temperatures in the Tetons average in the mid-50s for this time of year.

The heat wave is expected to continue throughout the weekend.

These data are preliminary and have not undergone final quality control by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) with final assessments accessible at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov.

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Don Day: Wyoming Drought Expected to Persist

Published on May 6, 2021May 6, 2021 in weather

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By Averi Hales, Wyoming Livestock Roundup

La Niña, decreased precipitation, and drought are all phrases producers are hearing more regularly. In an interview with “Wakeup Wyoming”, Meteorologist Don Day said the chance of the ongoing drought continuing through 2022 is eminent, all thanks to the oscillating La Niña pattern.

“In the western U.S., La Niñas are dry and El Niños are wet,” Day said, noting western states are entering the second year of a La Niña cycle. “Although it may not be as strong, the opportunity for the drought to break this spring and summer is low, as long as we continue to see this La Niña.”

“We’ve seen this before, and this is a pattern that repeats itself. But, we have to get out of this pattern, and honestly I don’t think it will be until 2022,” he said.

The three-month outlooks for temperature and precipitation probability released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for May through June, made April 15, predict a stronger chance of above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation for the time period.

Day explained even though this spring and summer might be warmer and dryer than normal, he doesn’t think it will be as dry as last summer.

The outlook for this summer greatly depends on the moisture the area receives in May.

“May is the wettest month on average in Wyoming and we are not at average, which does not bode well,” Day said. “A lot of the summer’s dryness is going to hinge on what precipitation we get over the next five weeks.”

“May is supposed to be wet, and it will be wet. But, it has to be wetter than normal to put a dent into the drought, and I don’t see it,” he said.

Although snow and rain are in the forecast for the next month, it may not be enough to combat ongoing drought, Day said.

To view climate outlooks, visit cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/.

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Don Day Wyoming Weather Forecast: Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Published on May 5, 2021 in weather

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Much Of I-80 Closed Due To Winter Conditions

Published on April 15, 2021April 15, 2021 in weather

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By Staff Reports, Rock Springs Rocket Miner

Several Wyoming roads are closed due to winter weather conditions and rolling closures on Wednesday, April 14, and the closures are likely to extend into Thursday, April 15.

Interstate 80 is closed both directions between Rock Springs and Laramie due to winter conditions. The interstate is also closed westbound between Laramie and Cheyenne due to a rolling closure. The estimated opening time is 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday.

In addition, Wyoming Highway 430 is closed to through traffic between Rock Springs and the Colorado state line due to winter conditions, and the opening time is unknown.

Both I-80 and WH-430 were closed earlier on Wednesday, but reopened for much of the afternoon before closing again in the evening.

A winter weather advisory remains in effect through Thursday afternoon, April 15, for most of central and western Wyoming. The heaviest period of snow is expected to be from late Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.

Total additional snow accumulations of 1 to 4 inches are possible. Blowing snow will be common as a northeast wind will be gusting 35 to 50 mph across Sweetwater County Wednesday into the night.

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High Temperature Records Fall Throughout Wyoming as Heat Wave Continues

Published on April 4, 2021April 4, 2021 in weather

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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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Despite Historic Snowstorm, Wyoming’s Drought Still Here

Published on March 25, 2021March 25, 2021 in weather

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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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Competing Computer Models Predict Wyoming Will Have a Wet Spring Or Dry Spring (Or Both)

Published on March 23, 2021March 23, 2021 in weather

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Wet spring, dry spring.

Not the name of a banned Dr. Seuss book, but a question in the minds of many Wyomingites — a number of whom are hoping for the former.

With much of Wyoming experiencing a drought, a rainy (and snowy) few months would help, but even Wyoming’s weatherman, Don Day, isn’t sure what to expect.

The problem, he says, is competing computer modeling.

Day, of course, isn’t the standard “made for TV’ weatherman who bloviates in front of a green screen for three minutes at 5:30 and 10 p.m.

Day actually explains forecasting and the science behind it — like computer modeling and why it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.

“We are always so suspicious — and you should be — of long-range computer modeling,” Day said on his Tuesday morning weather podcast.

He said European and Canadian computer models predict a “very dry” spring, but the American computer model, which the National Weather Service puts out, is showing the exact opposite.

“You could’t have more of a disagreement,” Day said. “So you have to wonder: What does this model see that could make it so wet?”

Day said there’s a difference between sea surface temperatures. He is a big believer in the interaction between sea surface temperatures and weather patterns in the western high plains.

If the predicted temperatures are cooler than average — like the European and the Canadian models show — that means we’ll have a drier than normal spring.

The American model, on the other hand, is showing warmer sea surface temperatures and a near-elimination of La Niña — a weather pattern that makes it drier and warmer over our area. El Niño produces the opposite effect.

Which model does Day believe? He’s going for majority rule.

“It’s more likely that the European and the Canadian models are correct,” he said explaining that sea surface temperatures are cooling right now along the west coast.

“While La Niña is weakening near the equator, it’s still there, it’s not gone,” he said. “And for the last 90 days, the whole eastern Pacific has cooled off.”

So, in order for the American model to be correct, something has to reverse that trend and he doesn’t see it.

At the same time, however, Day acknowledges that his speculation is just that — speculation.

“You should be very skeptical of all climate and meteorological models that look out over five days,” he said.

Day did say, however, that the historic snowstorm that hit much of Wyoming earlier this month was helpful.

“It was a godsend,” Day said. “It really helped us out. But we’re not out of the drought yet.”

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Don Day Wyoming Weather Forecast: Monday, March 22, 2021

Published on March 22, 2021March 22, 2021 in Don Day

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Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins: “It’s Like the Zombie Apocalypse Out There”

Published on March 16, 2021March 16, 2021 in weather

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It’s going to take awhile for the City of Cheyenne to open up again.

Still reeling from the blizzard that dumped more than 30 inches of snow on its streets over the weekend, Wyoming’s capital city, for the most part, is still closed and the mayor of Cheyenne is urging patience.

“I know that a lot are restless today,” Collins said via videoconference. “We’ve been stuck for three days now and we all want to get out. But our police department would ask you not to get out in your cars and become part of the problem.”

City officials announced city offices would be closed for a third consecutive day Wednesday as crews continue their work to clear the streets. Residents were asked to remain in their homes to leave the streets clear for snowplows.

Collins said Interim Fire Chief John Kopper compared the community to a zombie apocalypse, with people walking to supermarkets in the middle of the street because there’s no other place to walk.

Because the temperatures have hovered around the freezing point during the day, there’s been very little melting. So the 30-plus inches of snow has stayed put. And that’s a lot of snow.

The problem, Collins said, is not so much the plowing of the snow — it’s where to put the snow. Everything is full of — snow.

So the plan, the mayor said, is to bulldoze an 8-foot wide path down every residential street. The rest is up to the community.

“That means you’re going to have to dig out to get to it, but with the 2 or 3 feet of snow that’s there, we’re not going to be able to do much more than that,” Collins said.

The emphasis will continue to be public safety, he said.

Collins thanked Janine West, the director of Laramie County Emergency Management Office, who set up agreements with more than 25 Cheyenne snowmobilers who have been taking police and fire department workers back and forth to work.

“They’ve been really heroic in helping us get people where they need to go. So I just wanted to say thank you to Janine and her crew for helping coordinate everything,” he said.

Collins didn’t have a timeline as to when residential streets would be open but he did say every street was eventually going to be plowed.

“Please be patient,” Collins said. “We’re doing our best and we’re gonna get there, I promise. We’re using everything and every available asset that we have to get the streets cleared, and try to get the city back to normal.”

Don’t expect a lot of melting over the next 7 to 10 days as the high temperatures will mostly be in the mid- to upper 30s, although 47 degrees is the predicted high for Saturday.

The cooler temperatures are probably best as flooding, hopefully, will be kept to a minimum.

The harsh conditions won’t be stopping the Wyoming State Legislature from going back in session.

Committee meetings will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday and lawmakers will be gaveled for proceedings in the House and Seante chambers at 10 am. Zoom will be an option.

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Californian Driving Mini Cooper Causes Four-Hour Delay & Numerous Wrecks On I-80

Published on March 15, 2021March 16, 2021 in weather

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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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Snow So Deep In Cheyenne, Emergency Management Asks Citizens For Snowmobiles

Published on March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 in weather

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The snow in Cheyenne was so deep following Sunday’s record-breaking storm that the Cheyenne-Laramie County Emergency Management Department put out a call for civilian help.

According to a social media post, the department was in need of people who own snowmobiles and/or tracked vehicles, ones that have rubber/other material tracks which make it easier to travel on snow, to help with shift changes at emergency response agencies.

Our Public Safety crews throughout the City and County need assistance getting a shift change done.” the post said. “Our Law Enforcement, Fire Department personnel, EMS Crews, and 911 Dispatchers have been working countless hours responding to every call they can and need a shift change.”

While Cheyenne’s public safety crews were helping with the shift changes, the civilian vehicles would be of incredible assistance, and could also be used for 911 responses, the post said.

Anyone in the Cheyenne or Laramie County area with this type of vehicle was encouraged to contact the department at 307-775-7360.

Cheyenne, like much of Wyoming, was pummeled with snow over the weekend, receiving 30.8 inches as of Monday morning. The National Weather Service said Sunday Cheyenne broke a two-day snowfall record this weekend.

The heavy snow prompted closures for all state government offices in Cheyenne on Monday, the University of Wyoming, all schools in Laramie and Natrona counties, as well as city offices in both locations.

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Casper Area At Risk For Flooding Following Record-Breaking Snow

Published on March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 in weather

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The Casper area is at risk for potential flooding due to the high amount of snow that blanketed central Wyoming over the weekend.

According to the National Weather Service in Riverton, Casper has seen 26.3 inches of snow since Saturday. This amounts to around 2.14 inches of water from the snow.

With temperatures expected to be in the upper 30s to mid-40s this week in the Casper area, there is a possibility of low-elevation snowmelt flooding.

“If you live in a low-lying area that is prone to flooding or standing water, take extra precautions,” the NWS wrote on its Facebook page late Sunday.

The ground in many areas is still frozen, which can cause low-lying areas to fill with water quickly.

According to the United States Geological Survey, rapid snowmelt can also trigger landslides and debris flows. In combination with specific weather conditions, such as excessive rainfall on melting snow, it may even be a major cause of floods.

Last week, the NWS also warned of a possibility of ice jam flooding coming as a result of rising temperatures.

An ice jam develops when pieces of floating ice accumulate to obstruct the river flow. The water that’s held back behind the temporary dam could potentially cause flooding or flash flooding upstream.

Ice jams in Wyoming are most common from mid-February through early April and are seen in most rivers, but especially in the Green, Wind and Big Horn River Basins.

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Southeastern Wyoming Schools, Offices Closed After Historic Storm

Published on March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 in weather

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

Roads, government offices and schools remained closed across southeastern Wyoming on Monday as the state recovered from a record-breaking winter storm that forced even snowplows off of the highways.

As of Monday morning, highways remained closed from the Nebraska border west to Rawlins and the Colorado border north to Buffalo.

During the peak of the storm on Sunday, the Wyoming Transportation Department suspended plowing operations on Interstate 80 as the snow and brisk winds pushed snow back onto freshly plowed roads.

With many roads remaining impassable Monday morning, government offices and schools closed from Cheyenne and Laramie to Casper. In Laramie, the University of Wyoming was also closed.

Even Wyoming’s Legislature, which rarely closes because of the weather, suspended operations on Monday.

“With weather conditions unsafe for travel, all state of Wyoming facilities in Laramie County will be closed on Monday, March 15, state offices will be closed and the Wyoming Legislature will not meet,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a Facebook posting. “With most roads impassable, we continue to recommend no unnecessary travel in the portions of the state impacted by this historic storm. Stay safe Wyoming!”

The blizzard began dropping snow on the southeastern half of the state Saturday night and continued through most of Sunday.

Snow accumulations from the storm ranged from 9 inches in Rawlins to 20 inches in Pine Bluffs, 26 inches in Casper, 28 inches in Wheatland and 30.8 inches in Cheyenne, a record for a two-day snowfall.

At the height of the storm, Interstate 80 was closed from Cheyenne west to Rock Springs, but crews were able to open the stretch between Rawlins and Rock Springs by Monday morning. The Transportation Department predicted much of the rest of I80 and I25 would be open by Monday night.

Conditions across the state were expected to improve slowly over the week, according to meteorologist Don Day of DayWeather.

Day said an approaching front would keep Wyoming’s weather cool and unsettled until the middle of the week, when a warm front will move into the state.

“If you want to know when the big melt is, the big melt starts Thursday and Friday and into early Saturday, as southwest winds will bring much warmer air in and that’s going to be able to start to melt the snow,” he said. “It’s really not until the end of the week before we see any significant warm up or any significant melting.”

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Wyoming Blizzard: Snow Records Broken, Motorists Stranded, Snowplows Give Up

Published on March 14, 2021March 14, 2021 in weather

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

It’s official, at least in Wyoming’s capital city anyway. This weekend’s snowstorm is a record-breaker.

With 26 inches of snow on Cheyenne by mid-day Sunday, the National Weather Service said the city broke a two-day snow total record beating the past amount of 25.2 inches recorded back in 1979.

The heavy snow prompted closures for all state government offices in Cheyenne on Monday, the University of Wyoming, all schools in Laramie and Natrona counties, as well as city offices in both locations.

“Conditions are brutal out there folks,” Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) officials said. “These heavy winds and snowfall are creating massive drifts on the roads and whiteout conditions.”

It’s so bad, WYDOT said, that immediately after drifts are plowed, they fill up again.

“WYDOT will need rotary plows (typically used to clear WYO 130 of snow in the spring) to clear drifts accumulating on portions of I-80,” they said.

To that end, crews in some areas have suspended operations.

“Due to overwhelming snow and lack of visibility we have decided to suspend our plowing operations in the Casper area. We’ve had several plows drive off the roadway due to limited to zero visibility,” the department said.

Same goes for the City of Casper. If you get stuck, you’re stuck.

“City crews are not available to assist stranded motorists. If you have a true emergency, call 911,” the city announced.

Despite most roads in the affected areas being closed — including all of Interstate 80 and Interstate 25 — the Wyoming Highway Patrol said they were fielding calls from many motorists who were stranded.

Photos shared by the Highway Patrol appeared to show a tow truck trying to rescue another tow truck in very difficult conditions.

“Please stay home and off the roadways,” the patrol said. “Many roads are impassable, causing dangerous conditions for crews to assist you if you become stranded.”

By mid-afternoon Sunday, power outages were still being reported in affected areas.

At 12:50pm Black Hills Energy reported 4,000 customers in northern Cheyenne and rural areas west of Cheyenne were affected.

“Hazardous road conditions are currently creating challenges for our crews as they work to make repairs and restore service,” the company said in a statement. “We’ll continue our restoration efforts and keep our customers informed through text messages and continual updates to our website, Facebook and Twitter.”

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Parts of Wyoming Shellacked By Winter Blizzard; More Than 3 Feet And Storm Still Going

Published on March 14, 2021March 14, 2021 in weather

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By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily

Most of Wyoming found itself cut off from the rest of the world Sunday as a strong storm meteorologists had predicted for days reached the state, closing highways and shutting off power to some areas.

Much of the state was under a blizzard warning Sunday as the storm dropped more than 37 inches of snow on some areas by Sunday morning.

Brisk winds gusting to 40 mph in Cheyenne and 19 mph in Casper mixed with the snow to reduce visibility to near zero across much of the southeastern half of the state and shut down travel from Rock Springs along Interstate 80 to Cheyenne and from Cheyenne north on Interstate 25 to Buffalo.

A number of state highways running north from the Colorado border to Newcastle and west from Nebraska to Lander were also closed.

Power outages were reported across the state. Rocky Mountain Power reported that more than 1,100 people were without power near Casper, Black Hills Power in Cheyenne reported an outage affecting almost 1,700 and High West Energy said almost 1,000 of its customers in eastern Laramie County lost power.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for much of the state, from Cheyenne west to Rawlins and north to Douglas, in the face of the storm expected to continue bringing snow and high winds to the state’s southeastern corner through Monday morning.

Residents were urged to stay off of the highways due to winter conditions, with the Cheyenne Police Department going so far as to issue a “shelter in place” advisory.

Snow accumulations ranged from 10 inches in Casper and 20 inches in Cheyenne to 27 inches in the Laramie foothills and 37 inches on Casper Mountain.

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Don Day Saturday Morning Snowstorm Update: “This Is A Dangerous Storm, Don’t Mess With It”

Published on March 13, 2021March 13, 2021 in Don Day

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Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day on Saturday morning said nothing has changed and the much-anticipated winter storm to affect large portions of the state is on track.

Day, in special edition of his daily weather podcast, said although the bullseye of the storm is in east-central and southeastern Wyoming, other parts of the state from Green River to Lander to the I-90 corridor will be affected as well.

“We went through a checklist earlier in the week where you had to have all the right things come together, all the right pieces of the puzzle to have a really big storm like what’s been being advertised this weekend. All of that’s coming together,” Day said.

In the bullseye areas, two or more feet of snow can be expected while his maps show areas outside of the bulleye to receive anywhere from eight to 21 inches.

“Look at Nebraska and east central and southeastern Wyoming and the Front Range of Colorado, there’s going to be a tremendous amount of water available,” Day said pointing to his maps.

And that’s not at all. Wind is going to be a factor too.

Wind gusts of more than 50mph are forecast in the bullseye areas of southeastern Wyoming, east-central Wyoming, western Nebraska, and northeastern Colorado.

Day cautioned people not to get complacent just because it’s relatively calm on Saturday morning – at the time of his recording.

“Even though there’s really not much going on right now at the time of this podcast here Saturday morning, things deteriorate extremely rapidly in these situations,” he said.

“So things can change on you, don’t test your luck, if you’re gonna go out and drive a long way, hoping to beat it. Because this system is coming together,” he said.

What’s interesting about this storm is that nearly its entire lifespan will happen right here in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska.

“This is typical in these high plains Rocky Mountain big snowstorms is that the storm actually goes through its whole lifecycle right on top of us,” Day said.

“And that’s where you tend to get these big, big snow events. As the storm develops, goes through its whole maturity process. It gets really strong and then it begins to dry out and dissipate as that dry wedge gets pulled in and very typical for that to happen,” he said.

The video of Day’s podcast can be viewed here.

The rough transcription of Day’s podcast follows:

——————————————-

Good morning, and welcome to Saturday, March 13 2021. Here’s a special weather update podcast for everybody. Thought we would get up this Saturday morning and see if the overnight hours would change our mind on the storm.

Well, they didn’t. This is going to happen, folks.

As we discussed yesterday, confidence was getting really high, our computer modeling was was getting lined up being very consistent.

And we went through a checklist earlier in the week where you had to have all the right things come together, all the right pieces of the puzzle to have a really big storm like what’s been being advertised this weekend. All of that’s coming together.

This is a parent based on all the latest information. Southeast and east central Wyoming and western Nebraska and Northern Colorado will be in the bullseye of this storm.

That’s where the heaviest snow is going to fall in those areas along I 25 and Interstate 80. Out further on the plains, it will be a major winter storm as well.

But there’ll be rain at first and that’ll cut off some of the heavier snowfall amounts.

Now for you folks like that i 90 corridor, you remain on the far northern edges of the storm and if the storm wiggles a little more north, you’re going to get into the snow, if it stays on its current track or goes a little more south, you’re just going to get brushed by it.

The I 90 corridor is kind of the boundary of where this storm is going to be impactful. The worst conditions will be Saturday afternoon through early Monday, that’s when everything comes together.

Now a lot of areas are in some freezing drizzle and fog this morning. So we’ve got a thin glaze of ice in many areas east of the divide this morning and East in the mountains.

That’s going to put a thick layer of ice in some areas with this, which is snow is going to fall on top of.

High impacts: obviously for travel and livestock through Monday, this is a dangerous storm. Don’t mess with it.

Even though there’s really not much going on right now at the time of this podcast here Saturday morning, things deteriorate extremely rapidly in these situations.

So things can change on you, don’t test your luck, if you’re gonna go out and drive a long way, hoping to beat it. Because this system is coming together.

As of this morning, the upper level low was about where all the models have been forecasting it to be just north of Page Arizona, drifting very slowly to the four corners area.

And that’s where it is this morning. It remains cut off from the main jet stream, it’s extremely well organized, a high pressure in the Gulf of Mexico.

All of those pieces we’ve been showing you throughout the week have not changed. They’re all there. So the flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico was coming.

Now here is a satellite and radar image. This is a radar image just taken. So you can see actually see this ring of moisture. It’s right around the upper level low right here near Lake Powell.

And here’s that fetch of moisture coming up from the Gulf and all over the eastern plains and into here.

Over the last couple of hours, we’ve had lightning strikes in northeastern Colorado and Southeast Colorado in northeastern New Mexico seeing some thunderstorms.

So the instability of the lifting of the atmosphere from the low here is happening as advertised.

Now this moistures got to get drawn in and pulled up here like this. And that’s going to be happening over the next six hours.

As we get into Sunday. This is for noon, Sunday, the upper level low is in southeastern areas of Colorado, very well formed low, extremely deep upslope winds to 30,000 feet getting driven into the northern Front Range of Colorado, southern Wyoming and into western Nebraska.

And the feed of moisture is uninhibited. Yes, there’s going to be some thunderstorms, and that will take away some of the moisture, but the moisture is thick and deep. So even with thunderstorms, we’re still gonna have a lot brought back to the Front Range.

This system here will act as a kicker. So the storm will get pulled out of the area, beginning very late Sunday night into Monday morning.

So this is really going to be about a 42 to 48 hour event all together.

When you take a look at where the surface low pressure will be. It’s going to be right in the southeast Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas Panhandle area right here.

And this is a pressure gradient. These are surface pressures. And you can see the lineup of the surface pressures from west to east here.

And that’s where the wind follows. So the upslope is very, very deep at the surface all the way up to basically where you fly in a commercial jet really high into the atmosphere.

And if you just imagine the amount of lift that takes place, from the moisture that’s brought from the gulf and the planes that are much lower and altitude and lift it to our higher altitudes here that just generates a lot of lift and a lot of the right physics to create snowflakes to cause precipitation to cause the atmosphere to cool to create the machine that the storms become.

These are the latest updated snow forecast and precipitation totals I’m showing you the latest projection of total precipitation through early Monday and you can see there along the front range for South of Denver, up to Cheyenne up to Casper back to Lander, all of that orange, anything that’s orange is two inches or more, the darker red, you’re getting over three inches.

Again, this is a prediction. Notice there is less here and I’m going to show you here on the simulated stat satellite.

Why there’s a little wedge here of drier air, that’s going to lead to less precipitation amounts there, which is too bad. This is going to be great moisture. But I wish they would get a little bit more here.

But look at Nebraska. And look at East Central and southeastern Wyoming and the Front Range of Colorado, there’s going to be a tremendous amount of water available.

And when we convert that to snow, due to the fact that temperatures aren’t terribly cold, it’s going to be about a 10 to one ratio on the plains meaning one inch of water is going to mean about 10 inches of snow.

It’s going to start as a very wet snow then get drier as we go on. But all the areas in blue and pink and purple are where you’re going to see the snow accumulate the purple and the gray here in southeast and East Central Wyoming definitely showing the bull’s eye.

Really there’s two bullseyes and a lot of these are terrain induced due to the higher terrain getting lifted up along the slopes of the mountains and the foothills.

We had mentioned yesterday that there’s going to be a bit of a snow shadow west of the major mountain ranges.

There’ll be a bit of a snow shadow into Walden, a little bit of a snow shadow west of the Laramie range and snowy range mountains and the mountains – you see this hole right here in northwestern areas of Colorado where that mountain flow, that flow of air from the east is going to take away a lot of the moisture on the eastern side of the mountain.

So the western side of the mountains aren’t going to get as much nonetheless, there is so much moisture and energy going to get over the divide, you can still see there’s going to be precipitation getting into western Colorado, southwestern areas of Wyoming and even eastern Utah as well.

Wind is going to be a factor. These are the forecasted wind gusts with the storm and we have this area of really strong winds up here in Nebraska, southeastern areas of Wyoming in the northern Colorado.

You’re going to have sustained winds 20 to 30 gusting 40 to 50 miles an hour or more in this area, so that will cause blizzard conditions.

We’re also gonna have high winds blowing snow and blizzard conditions near South Pass and also in Sweetwater County and east central parts of Sweetwater and Carbon County.

This is going to be what’s called a gap wind, where the wind gets pushed through the mountain terrain and the gaps in the mountain ranges.

So we’re gonna have a lot of wind on I 80 right here with the snow as well. And then on the bottom side of that low, strong winds impacting New Mexico today, tonight and into early tomorrow.

So this storm folks has everything.

Here’s the simulated satellite photo, I showed you this yesterday. This is kind of fun.

This shows you what a satellite photo should look like by noon tomorrow. And as you can see, we have the long fetch moisture getting drawn into Wyoming and Colorado.

You see the curl, where the upper level low is going to be the counterclockwise spin around there.

And also notice and I talked about this earlier you see that dry wedge right here.

The storm is so strong, the counterclockwise circulation brings drier air into the storm out of Mexico and the desert southwest and brings it in.

So you’re gonna see a clearing out here in western Kansas, right here during the day tomorrow and into tomorrow night.

And what will happen is, this pocket of dry air will get pulled into the storm Sunday night into Monday effectively causing the storm to reach its peak and dissipate as it drifts off to the north and east it will not be nearly as strong.

So what happens and this is typical in these high plains Rocky Mountain big snowstorms is the storm actually goes through its whole lifecycle right on top of us.

And that’s where you tend to get these big, big snow events. As the storm develops, goes through its whole maturity process. It gets really strong and then it begins to dry out and dissipate as that dry wedge gets pulled in and very typical for that to happen.

So folks, there’s no turning back. Hopefully you can get through everything. Okay, thanks for listening and watching the day weather podcast. And we’ll see you on Monday. Might have a special update for you tomorrow morning. If we see any changes. Good luck with the storm and be prepared

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Wyoming Gargantuan Snowstorm Friday Afternoon Update

Published on March 12, 2021March 12, 2021 in Uncategorized

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As most of Wyoming prepares to get ready for the largest snowstorm in over a year, meteorologist Don Day advises patience.

The weather system has slowed down somewhat so it will be later in the day on Saturday when the heavy snow starts falling.

That’s about the only thing that has changed, however. It is still expected to be a dangerous storm with multiple feet of snow falling in some locations.

“We see a lot of really good agreement on our weather forecasting tools,” Day told Cowboy State Daily on Friday afternoon. “So that gives us a really high confidence level that this storm will come to fruition.

“This will be the biggest storm of this year, bar none,” Day continued. “It’ll be a bigger storm than we saw during 2020 as well.”

Day said the storm is moving up from the southwest and will enter Wyoming from Colorado on Saturday morning. But the heavy stuff isn’t expected to fall until mid-day on Saturday.

“By noon to 6pm tomorrow (Saturday), that’s when the snow really kicks in and starts to get really heavy. That’s also when the wind picks up,” he said.

Day said the heaviest snow will occur from mid-day Saturday to mid to late Sunday afternoon and depending on your location, you could see multiple feet of snow.

“I’m expecting 2 to 3 feet of snow in the foothills of the Laramie range west of Cheyenne to South of Casper,” he said. “For the plains east of the mountains, we’re still going with 12 to 24 inches.”

He said north of the I-90 corridor, the storm will have less of an impact.

The full conversation with Day can be seen below:

Don Day: Slow Moving Snowstorm Is Going To Happen, Really Impressive Amounts of Snow

Published on March 12, 2021March 12, 2021 in Don Day

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Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day said nothing significant changed overnight that would alter the forecast for the big snowstorm that is heading toward our state over the weekend.

Day, in his daily morning forecast, said parts of Wyoming are still on tap to receive many feet of snow.

The only thing that has changed since yesterday is the speed of the storm. It’s slowing down a bit.

That means peak activity won’t happen until Saturday afternoon instead of Saturday morning.

“Be patient, it’s gonna take a while this is a really slow mover,” Day said. “It’s going to be the latter part of Saturday and Saturday night when the storm starts to get real western.”

Day said he was still uncertain about how much of the storm will hit northeastern Wyoming.

“To the folks living along Interstate 90, from Sheridan to Buffalo to Gillette, to Sundance on the way to Rapid City, you’re on the northern fringes, where a slight change in the track of the storm will make a big difference,” Day said.

The bullseye, he said, continues to be southeast, east central Wyoming, and northern Colorado.

In an interview with Cowboy State Daily on Thursday, Day said the Centennial area, the Laramie summit and the foothills of Wheatland and Douglas could see the largest amounts, mentioning that 2 to 5 feet of snow is possible.

Cheyenne, Wheatland, Torrington, Casper, and Lusk could all receive between 12 and 24 inches of snow, with higher amounts a possibility.

“Snowfall amounts may be a little shorter than the 2003 storm but the total snowfall of the 2003 storm is hard to beat. But we’ll come close, we’re gonna have some really impressive snow,” he said.

He also said some of the forecasted amounts might be a bit excessive mentioning a computer model showing Wheatland receiving 34 inches but only time will tell.

Don’s complete weather forecast can be viewed here.

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Don Day Weather: Huge Snowstorm Expected; Up To Five Feet West of I-25 Corridor

Published on March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 in Don Day

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Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day is predicting a massive snowstorm to hit Wyoming over the weekend, with the Interstate 25 corridor predicted to see the most snow.

Computer models, he said, are “all over the place” in predicting widely differing snow amounts but one thing is certain: snow is coming.

“The storm is going to happen. Our confidence level is very high. All of the ingredients are there,” Day told Cowboy State Daily.

The amount of snow and the exact locations are still in play but Day said the Centennial area, the Laramie summit and the foothills of Wheatland and Douglas could see the largest amounts, mentioning that 2 to 5 feet of snow is possible.

He said Cheyenne, Wheatland, Torrington, Casper, and Lusk could all receive between 12 and 24 inches of snow, with higher amounts certainly a possibility.

“Our computer modeling is showing tremendous amounts of moisture with this storm,” he said. “Some models are showing 3 to 6 inches of water content. If you convert that to snow, that is a tremendous amount of snowfall.”

Most areas of the state, he said, will be affected by the snowstorm, and he specifically mentioned Rock Springs, Green River, Rawlins, Lander, and Riverton as some of the areas that will be hardest hit.

He said the Jackson area, Star Valley, Pinedale, and the Cody area will miss the storm completely.

As for the timing, Day said the peak of the storm will occur on Saturday and continue on until Sunday morning.

What everybody wants to know now, however, is how much snow will fall and exactly where.

Patience, he said. By Friday morning, he’ll know much more.

“Now that the storm has moved inland to the coast, we can start measuring it with weather balloons and other sensors,” he said. “By Friday morning, we’ll have a better idea about the amounts to expect and the exact track of the storm.”

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Gordon Signs Emergency Rule To Allow Propane Deliveries

Published on February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 in Mark Gordon

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Although the weather is warming up in Wyoming after a polar vortex broke many records across the state, Gov. Mark Gordon on Thursday signed an executive order to help ensure there aren’t any potential propane shortages.

The emergency rule allows suspends regulations on driving hours to allow drivers to meet the increased demand.

That demand has increased, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, because of “recent frigid temperatures throughout the state.”

“This order is specific to drivers bringing propane to Wyoming or doing in-state deliveries,” the Wyoming Highway Patrol said. “The order also puts Wyoming in line with other surrounding states, which have implemented similar executive orders.”

“Demand for propane, which many people use to heat their homes, has increased because of recent frigid temperatures throughout the state,” they said.

The order is effective February 17 through March 18.

The emergency rule suspends regulations on driving hours to allow drivers to meet the increased demand but still indicates drivers cannot be on the road when they are fatigued.

The propane delivery companies are specifically asked to take extra precautions to ensure both the public and drivers’ safety.

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Many Wyoming Towns Never Went Above Zero on Thursday

Published on February 11, 2021February 11, 2021 in Don Day

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Thinking it’s cold where you are?

Try being in Powell, Wyoming today. It’s high? -15 degrees.

Buffalo and Cody were right behind chalking up highs of -13 degrees while Gillette posted a high of -11.

Greybull, Cowley, Worland, and Casper at least were in the single digits below zero with highs of -7, -6, -5, and -4 respectively.

This is all part of a big Arctic front that is finally pushing a Pacific front out of the way.

The two fronts have been battling over the last week and now it looks like the Arctic blast will win out and in a big way.

That’s something that impresses meteorologists. Take Wyoming’s Don Day, for example. He’s been pretty bored over the couple months as Wyoming has been unseasonably warm and dry.

“This is a huge Arctic outbreak,” Day said. “You don’t normally see them with such extent like this east to west. So that is something that is quite impressive.”

“The thickness of the Arctic air vertically also is pretty impressive,” he said. “It gets very deep — thousands of feet deep.”

Be forewarned, Wyoming — especially eastern and central Wyoming — that dangerous wind chills are heading our way. Negative 40 is not out of the realm of possibility.

For the most comprehensive weather information, check out Don Day’s forecast on our YouTube channel.

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Don Day: Life-Threatening Cold Temperatures Ahead; Wind Chills 40 – 50 Below

Published on February 11, 2021February 11, 2021 in Don Day

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It’s really, really cold out there.

Cold enough for pants to stand upright by themselves? Yes, it’s that cold.

The frozen jeans you see pictured were placed in Ton Winter’s front yard in Wheatland.

Those pants won’t be thawing out any time soon with at least four days of sub-zero weather facing that community.

Places like Gillette, Wyoming are really getting it. The high on Thursday will be 11 below zero. Sheridan and Sundance will top out at 9 below zero. While Casper will make it all the way up to 2 below.

To show you how crazy Wyoming weather is, the icebox of the nation — Big Piney, Wyoming — will hit a balmy high of 33 degrees on Thursday. Pinedale, normally another super chilly spot, will see a high of 28, while Bondurant will make it to an even freezing.

This is all because, if you’ve been listening to Wyoming weatherman Don Day, there’s been a battle going on between the Arctic Pacific fronts.

When the Pacific front moves in, it warms up. When the Arctic front pushes the Pacific front out, it cools down.

And there’s been a dividing line between the two fronts. Western Wyoming is warmer while central and eastern Wyoming are really cold.

That’s about to change. In Super Bowl terms, the Arctic front is Tom Brady and the Buccaneers and they are about to dominate the Pacific.

That means the entire state is going to see an Arctic blast — the likes of which we haven’t seen in over a year.

“We’re expecting a push of Arctic here to get deeper get, let’s say a mile thick as we get into the Friday through Sunday timeframe, and we’re gonna see most of the state go below zero,” Day told Cowboy State Daily.

“These are really dangerous conditions,” Day said. “It’s been a long week for livestock and it’s about to get a lot longer.”

Day said the weekend will be especially cold in Wyoming not only because of the temperatures but because of the winds.

“Wind chills at 30 – 40 degrees below zero — or even colder in northeastern Wyoming — will occur this weekend,” Day said.

“The temperatures may not be record-setting but they’re getting really, really close to being record temperatures,” he said.

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Don Day Wyoming Weather Forecast: Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Published on December 30, 2020December 30, 2020 in Don Day

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This is the Don Day Wyoming weather forecast for Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Below is a rushed transcription of Don Day’s forecast. Excuse the errors.

How is the year going to end? And how’s the New Year gonna start? Well, really not bad. It’s gonna be windy and occasionally chilly.

We’re gonna have some wind today, and into Thursday, we’ll have some wind again over the weekend.

But really, there’s nothing terribly bad coming our way other than the wind and chilly temperatures, but at the same time, we still don’t have any bitter arctic air to come on in.

We’re gonna have a few fast moving systems mainly impacting the mountains, we will see some wintry weather that is going to be heading into the central part of the United States this weekend.

But in this part of the region, we really don’t have much going on. So it’s gonna be a nice New Year’s Day. It’ll be nice about New Year’s Day was that most of you won’t have much wind by our standards. And it will be a fair dry day.

No major problems coming for travelers this weekend other than those windy areas. Now busy weather coast to coast. Starting next week, we’re going to spend some time today taking a look at the long range.

So there’s not much going on in the short term, we’ll take a look at the long range weather, taking a peek into 2021. Here we are with today’s weather, we’ve got the low that came in and brought the snow it’s headed to the Midwest, we have a piece of that low that’s left here.

There’s gonna be some problems here. We’ll share that minute there’s gonna be some problems here as well for travelers. But out here we’re looking at the weather improving, you’ll see this Well, this is a pretty impressive little low coming into the West Coast right here in the Pacific Northwest.

But it’s gonna break into two a part of the storm ago here, the other part of the storm go here, it’s gonna split. And since it splits and you can see it splitting. Here’s what’s left of it. And here’s the other part of it.

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This is by Thursday afternoon. So here we are today. And then look what happens to the pattern just today later that storm split so there’s really not much left. There will be some snow in the higher terrain here as it goes through but it’s a weakening low.

We’ll keep it I guy on this guy later and this guy later on but what will happen is that this guy will head off to the east. And we’ll go to a more West East more mild flow this weekend. Snowfall wise This is through Saturday.

I want to show you that through Saturday, you can see that the mountains will see a little bit of light snow, we just see most of the heavier snow staying up into the Pacific Northwest mountains.

That’s because the storm splits but as the storm splits and we get a low down here, look what happens. We’ll show you here on a big map. Look at this. Holloway down into Mexico look at down into Texas, then into the Great Lakes and upper Midwest.

This long swath of winter weather cuts across many interstates and roads and highways. It’s not a wide band of ice and snow. But it’s pretty impressive Big Bend country could be looking at a significant winter storm as we head into the new year.

But for Colorado for Wyoming for Utah, the this this region here there’s just not much happening other than mountain snow showers and flurries. Now where is all the cold air. This is a map of the globe looking from space down to the north pole here.

We’re looking at the globe. Now this is Sunday. If you want to know where the really cold air is, it’s in Europe here.

And then we talked about this yesterday, and how we saw a lot of cold air in Siberia and into the Korean Peninsula up here across the North Atlantic. This is really the big cold air mass that we need to keep an eye on.

This is generating very strong Jetstream winds across the North Pacific. We’ll show you that here in a minute. But you can see the lower 48 and a good part of Canada pretty mild. As we go into the new year with above average temperatures really coast to coast.

But here’s that swath of wintry weather right here that’ll be taking place. Now as we go further out. I want to show you what happens 15 days out or two weeks from now. Notice that the cold in Siberia here and the warmth in the North America here in two weeks.

Look what happens. Now this is a computer model. But we could definitely see the cold still up in Siberia. But there’s a release of that cold into the lower 48 states, two weeks out from now. And so it’s still on the table.

It’s a long range model. So take it with a grain of salt. But if you’re wondering where the really really cold air is it’s locked up up there and right now, it has no way to come South but it could come south as we get into the first couple of weeks January.

Now going forward. This is what the maps look like for Saturday. We have a little wave coming through here. Here’s that Midwestern storm we just showed you.

That’s going to be moving out. More of a mild Pacific flow of air comes in this weekend. So temperatures will moderate a little bit. by Tuesday.

We have a cold front coming through this will bring the mountain snow a few snow showers in the plains but Again, with the Jetstream.

So fast across North America, you’re just not going to get any Arctic gear that can come south, at least into the starting next week. But look what happens when we go further out. This is by next Friday.

Look what happens. We have a big low here, good low in southeast Colorado, another low approaching the California coast, see how they’re lined up.

What’s happening is, is that and this is something that we’ll show you here in a little bit more in a minute. What happens in this pattern is you get a strong Jetstream that undercuts an area of high pressure. We talked about that blocking Ridge yesterday in the North Atlantic.

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Well, it retrogrades to the west, and goes over in near the green south of Greenland Hudson Bay Area, as we get into mid to late next week. And what that does, is it takes the Jetstream and it pushes it further south.

That’s good news for California to get more wet. But what you tend to have is basically a train of storms that go coast to coast.

This is why we think mid late next week. And the week after that you’re going to hear more on the news about winter weather across the United States, because these specific storms instead of being directed up here will be directed more this way.

So January, is looking pretty interesting coast to coast, in terms of the weather getting more stormy. Now we’re going to go back and we’re going to talk about Arctic constellations, again, all the way through January 14 was where that map I just showed you was around, notice the Arctic oscillation remains in a negative phase, which is a cold phase.

Now I’m going to show you a new oscillation. It’s called the North Atlantic oscillation. We don’t normally show this to you because well, it’s the Atlantic, it’s far downstream from us. But in the winter, we do pay attention to it.

Notice, the North Atlantic oscillation is also in a negative phase, all the way through the next two weeks through January 14.

Now, what’s interesting historically, is when you take the North Atlantic oscillation, and you take the Arctic oscillation, and you put them together, if they are both in a negative phase, which they are, you tend to get patterns like this.

This is where you are, you get that colder air that is able to dive in North America, and you get the storm track that is more suppressed to the south.

And there’s that blocking high we talked about over Greenland. So what ends up happening is you get cold stormy weather in Siberia, in Europe, you had cold and stormy weather in North America, and very little going on in the Atlantic, the blue areas here show where the cold air tends to reside.

And that’s kind of where it’s residing right now, but does have an opportunity to come in. So when you take an Arctic isolation, that’s negative North Atlantic oscillation that’s negative. Those are cold phases for North America.

And you get a pattern that looks like this. That’s why right after the new year, for at least a couple of weeks, the weather across the northern hemisphere across North America is going to get more wintry.

I want to show you this is the upper level jet stream wind for Friday morning. Now, this is a little bit of a busy map I know.

But here’s the Aleutians. And here’s Alaska. So here’s Alaska right here, we’ll mark that with an A. Then over here we have Japan, we’ll do that with a J. Then here’s the West Coast, there’s the Pacific Northwest.

So now that you have your bearings, what I want to show you is is that that really bitter cold air that’s up here contrasts with the warmer Pacific waters here, that’s a little bit further north of those tropical areas.

Notice the Jetstream winds, these are winds at 30,000 feet, when you get a jet stream like this rocketing across the North Pacific in the winter. This is like fuel. This is like gasoline.

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So what will tend to happen is this very straight wind, look how straight west to east it is. And it’s moving.

I mean, these are Jetstream winds that are 170 180 190 miles an hour. Least are forecasted to be like that. This is where you get clear air turbulence.

This is where you hear about flights going across the Pacific where they hit lots of turbulence. This is what happens in these situations.

Now what will tend to happen is, all of this stored up energy in the jet stream, eventually will not become a straight line anymore, but it will buckle causing a ridge and a trough.

And that’s where we ended up with this pattern here where you start to get more waves, more storms in the system.

So while we don’t have a lot to talk about in the short term, there’s a lot on the table in the long term. Have yourself a great Wednesday. We’ll see

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Don Day Wyoming Weather Forecast: Monday, December 28, 2020

Published on December 28, 2020December 28, 2020 in Don Day

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This is the Don Day Wyoming weather forecast for Monday, December 28, 2020.

Below is a rushed transcription of Don Day’s forecast. Excuse the errors.

It’s Monday, December 28 2020. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. As we start off this week, well, we actually have some winter weather to talk about.

We certainly got into some winter weather in some areas after Christmas day after a beautiful Christmas Day, a couple of fronts came through bringing the mountains and snow and we did see some snow showers in the plains in some areas of the region yesterday, but now a more potent winter storm is gonna be taking place.

It’s going to be coming up out of Central and Southern California, that’s a spot we haven’t seen a storm ticket track for a while.

In fact, there were parts of southern California that got an inch of rain last night good for them. Now, when you see a storm this time of year go into central and southern California.

Usually we’re gonna have some winter weather later. And that’s exactly what will happen. It’s a little ahead of a schedule, we were thinking the storm was going to be a tuesday wednesday storm, but now it’s going to be a Monday evening, Monday night Tuesday storm, it will last into Tuesday.

Most of the snow happens in most areas tonight. And into the early morning hours of Tuesday, it’s going to be an active pattern mainly for the mountains after the storm and into the new year, snowpack will grow some more.

As it’s another good pattern for the high country. It’ll be unsettled on the plains, we don’t see a significant snow event on the plains after this incoming storm for a while, but it’s going to be unsettled meaning we’re gonna have more wind events.

We’re also going to have yes, some opportunities for snow. But the significant snows again, in this line La Nina pattern this time of year will tend to stay more towards the higher elevations but it’s going to be a busy pattern into the new year.

So perhaps there will be other opportunities coming. This is the National Weather Service map showing current advisories and watches and warnings when it comes to inclement weather, what I should want to show you here, especially if you’ve got travel plans or you know somebody traveling see all the pink and purple here.

All of these areas are under some type of Winter Weather Advisory or winter storm warning for today tonight into early tomorrow.

The entire state of Nebraska is under an advisory a lot of Kansas, a lot of Iowa, a lot of Minnesota, Wisconsin, a lot of Wyoming and the mountains of Colorado.

So you can see, especially in this area right here, this region is going to be impacted by this winter storm.

If you’re traveling or planning on traveling, if you haven’t left yet, you may just want to wait till the storm goes through because roads and highways are gonna get really icy this by our standards is not a big storm.

But it’s the most weather we’ve had in a while and it’s gonna bring just enough snow, cold and wind to make some poor travel conditions across the region.

This is where it is as of today, the low moving through Central and Southern California finally bringing that area some rain.

And this is a really good pattern for us to get snowed on. But what you’ll notice is, instead of it becoming what we call a closed low, a deep Colorado low, it’s going to just keep moving and become more of an open wave as it’s going to join up with this system coming in behind it. And what will happen by tomorrow.

This is by noon tomorrow. You can see it becomes an elongated trough really more of a frontal system that will head off to the east. And that’s going to keep it from becoming a really big storm. And then we’ve got another system diving in behind it now by Thursday noon.

Notice we’ve got a lo consolidating down here in South Texas and we have another wave coming in behind it. What is likely going to happen late this week is there’s gonna be a pretty big winter storm in the nation’s midsection as this guy gets kicked up.

So there’s going to be more travel concerns across the lower 48 states as we go to New Year’s Eve and as we go into New Year’s Day and you can see we’ve got another low backup here. Another low backup here.

It’s gonna stay really busy. Now this is the snowfall forecast through Thursday afternoon. And you can see this really shows where we are showing you those advisories where the snow is going to fall so you can see all of Interstate 80 is going to be impacted all of Nebraska’s it will be impacted all of Wyoming’s it will be impacted. I 25 along the front range of Wyoming in the Colorado will be impacted. I 70 the mountains of Colorado.

Gonna see a really nice shot of snow out of this. Look at the Wasatch. The winters of Utah going to see some pretty good snow with his system as well. And then the Pacific Northwest. He’s starting to see the next system coming on in later in the week. quick update on snowpacks. These have all gone up.

They’re still all below normal except these two drainages here. But a couple of weeks ago these were in the low to mid 60s right here. These were in the 60s and 70s. So we’re starting to see them in shop. They got a ways to go but they’re inching up and we’ll continue to see these snowpack figures.

Get a little bit better in the next couple of weeks, Colorado’s in a similar situation. These all right here, and right here, they’re gonna get some really good snow out of this storm system. So these numbers will be going up by the end of the week as well, long term. This is for Saturday Night of the upcoming New Year’s weekend.

We’ve got a pretty good front here. We’ve got other systems back up here, the Northwest flow is going to continue to move in. What this will do is this will keep us from having arctic air come in.

The Arctic air is still bottled up and it’s being held at bay. So no severe cold coming. But as long as this act of Jetstream comes in off the Pacific like this, these waves will keep coming through. So we’re basically going to have the same weather we’ve had wind events, mountain snow and occasionally some snow on the plains, but no slow moving storm.

This is by next Wednesday. You can see we got a wave coming through the middle of next week. Another one behind it. Here’s one here, here’s one here, so they’re just going to keep coming. So you’re going to see the heaviest precipitation falling in the mountains in this area here over the next week or two.

The Arctic oscillation we showed you this late last week. The Arctic oscillation all the way through January 12 remains in a negative phase and so with that negative phase, it’s going to stay an active weather pattern, but the focal point will be in the high country. Thanks for listening and watching the Day weather podcast.

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Record Low Temperatures, Big Snowfall, Hurricane Force Winds Hit Wyoming

Published on September 9, 2020September 9, 2020 in weather

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Wyoming had it all yesterday. Record low temperatures, significant snowfall, and winds high enough to be categorized as hurricane strength.

If you just moved here: Welcome!

Yes, we had low temperatures. Record-setting in many areas.

Record lows — so far — were recorded in Buffalo, Lander, Riverton, Rock Springs, and Yellowstone.

Record cold high temperatures (which is confusing) were also set in many towns including Big Piney, Buffalo, Casper, Cody, Jackson, Lander, Riverton, Rock Springs, Worland, and Yellowstone.

To put this in perspective, Big Piney, which is frequently called the “icebox of the nation” normally has a high temperature of 71 degrees on September 8. The town’s previous record cold high was 55. Yesterday, it only hit 51 — which was pretty warm in comparison to the rest of Wyoming.

Casper’s normal high for September 8 is 79. It struggled to get over freezing yesterday and recorded 33 degrees as its high temperature.

Yesterday's high and low temperatures compared to the records and the average for this time of year. A handful of records were broken for low temperatures at go all the way back to the 1960s! #wywx
Posted by US National Weather Service Riverton Wyoming on Wednesday, 9 September 2020

As for snow totals, Fremont and Natrona counties both had locations which received 17 inches while one location in Park county had 12 inches of snow, and a Johnson county spot received 11 inches of snow.

The complete snow accumulation chart is available here.

And it wouldn’t be Wyoming without hurricane-force winds.

The Rock Springs airport recorded a high wind gusts of over 80 mph many times, including a gust of 86 mph at the airport and southeast of the area.

Other notable locations with significant wind include: Farson (68 mph), Green River (67 mph), and Wamsutter (60 mph).

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Winter-Like Storm Creates Winter Wonderland in Some Areas; Blizzard From Hell in Other Areas

Published on September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 in weather

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The winter storm that’s affecting most of Wyoming is not an equal-opportunity employer.

It’s quite discriminatory, in fact.

Looking at photos and videos posted on Facebook, particularly on our favorite page “Wyoming Through The Lens“, you see a remarkable difference in how the storm is impacting different areas of the state.

Up here in Hulett, the sun is peaking through the clouds and the high temperature should be around 50 degrees.

Down in Superior, Wyoming, a couple Facebook videos posted by Norbert Green show an entirely different picture.

Posted by Norbert Green on Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Something that, perhaps, explorer Earnest Shackleton might have experienced when he was stuck in Antarctica.

Here's an update in Superior Wyoming ❤❤❤
Posted by Norbert Green on Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Meanwhile in Lander, as in other parts of the state, power is down and the snow is heavy.

Same with Douglas where there are reports of many downed trees.

While over in Jackson, the storm produced a picture-perfect Christmas wonderland.

This mornings drive….yes you read that right, THIS morning 🥶😍
Posted by Isaac Spotts on Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Contrast that to Rock Springs where the movie ‘The Shining’ comes to mind.

What a lovely summer blizzard!
Posted by Jacqui Abejar on Tuesday, 8 September 2020

And just remember, close your windows:

That’s because the wind has been something else today. Check out these wind speeds:

Maximum wind gusts across Western and Central Wyoming over the last 12 hours #wywxhttp://ow.ly/Cqx950BkFrU
Posted by US National Weather Service Riverton Wyoming on Tuesday, 8 September 2020

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Don Day: Good Weather Coming Up But Not Until the Weekend

Published on September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 in weather/Don Day

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We’re already looking ahead and wondering when this summer winter storm is going to pass.

Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day says the weekend is going to be great. But until then, we have a big storm to work around.

“When you look out your window in many areas here in the Rockies and the High Plains, the storm is going to impact the region through Friday. This is a doozy of a storm system folks for this early in the season,” Day said in his morning forecast.

Day said the storm doesn’t mean winter has arrived. This is just an “interruption,” he said.

“We’ve got nice fall weather coming but certainly it is fall now. This storm system is basically readjusting the jet stream and we’re still going to have some warm dry days coming up in September and October.”

Travel conditions will improve after early Wednesday, Day said.

And, although it may not seem that way, there is some good news that’s coming out of this moisture. It’s killing the fire season and will help with the drought.

“This is a godsend for the fires across the area,” Day said. “This is going to just do wonders with the fire situation. Especially the bad fire in the Front Range, the mountains west of Fort Collins. Look at all of that good moisture there.”

Wyoming will bounce back from this storm system but it’s going to take some time, Day said.

“Basically it’s going to stay very cool through Friday and we’ll see rain on the plains and snow showers in the high country. But by Saturday afternoon, we’ve got a nice high pressure Ridge returning to the region. It’s not a hot one.”

The following is a computer-generated transcript of the Don Day daily forecast. For best results, watch the video embedded above.

It’s Tuesday, September 8 2020, although you’d swear it’s November or December 8 2020. When you look at your window in many areas here in the Rockies and the High Plains, the storm is going to impact the region through Friday.

Folks, a lot of the biggest impacts are certainly coming through the next 24 hours. This is a doozy of a storm system folks for this early in the season. We’ll have travel impacts into early Wednesday, after early Wednesday. I think travel conditions will improve although it’s going to be slow going still over the higher elevations of it and this the mountain passes of the region.

Now this is a godsend for the fires that fire situation in Colorado, the Cameron Peak fire area blowing up over the weekend, causing widespread smoke across the Front Range, a huge increase in acreage that burned up but this is going to be a godsend the storm will for that fire and other fires burning in the West. And also the area’s most impacted by the real severe drought conditions this summer.

We’ll get good moisture out of the storm system. Now by the weekend, we’re right back to nice September weather again. This doesn’t mean we’re into winter folks, it’s an interruption. We’ve got nice fall weather coming but certainly it is fall now, after the storm system is basically readjusting the jetstream and we’re likely … still gonna have some real warm dry days coming up in September, October, we’ll have other fronts as well. But good weather will return by the weekend.

This is where we are today the big ridge in the Gulf of Alaska then the deep trough cutting into the United States. The upper level low over Utah is now bringing moisture into the region on top of the Arctic boundary that came into the region and is all away is even pushed west of the Continental Divide. So this is where we get overriding southwest winds over the cold air moisture getting lifted over the cold air. Great way to make it snow. The trajectory of the air follow the wind barbs …

Look how far … you wonder why it’s so cold because of the trajectory The air is coming all the way up basically from near the Arctic Circle folks. You wonder how things could change so quickly? Well over the weekend we had record heat come up from the deserts. And now we’ve actually completely done a 180 and bring it in from the Arctic.

This is our temperature relative to normal as of this morning. Look at the extent of this cold plunge You know, this cold plunge is going to go east and will affect other areas of the Corn Belt Midwest just not the Rockies and high plains but that is one impressive cold blast. This is the precipitation that will fall through the next three or four days.

Most of the heavier precipitation now is falling up in northern Wyoming and southern Montana but now it’s central and southern Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, the Western and high planes that are going to get a goodly amount of moisture, widespread moisture, the best we’ve seen in months in some areas, and you can see the yellow here the heavier precipitation in the mountains of Colorado, up into Wyoming.

This is going to just do wonders with the fire situation. Especially the bad fire in the Front Range, the mountains west of Fort Collins.

Look at all of that good moisture there. This is what temperatures are going to be like relative to average by tomorrow afternoon Denver 48 degrees below normal for temperatures by noon on Wednesday. That is one heck of a cold wave for this time of year. Look at this minus 30 degrees relative to normal going all the way through Amarillo and headed towards El Paso. Now let’s see what happens with the pattern.

This is for tomorrow morning. The upper level low barely moves. It just parks itself right along the Colorado-Utah line. High pressure stays in the Gulf of Alaska and the storm is gonna basically linger keeping us cold and wet well into the day on Wednesday. By Friday, look at that, it barely moves.

This is today. Two days later. It’s in East Central Wyoming. Now notice it’s not as strong. So what it will do is keep a cool moist, unstable airmass overhead. So basically it’s going to stay very cool through Friday and Wednesday through Friday will bring occasional showers of rain on the plains and snow showers to the high country, the region.

But by Saturday afternoon, we’ve got a nice high pressure ridge returning to the region. It’s not a hot one. But what it will do is bring a return of nice looking, in fact, great looking September weather by the weekend that will probably stretch into all the next week and this is by next Thursday and Friday.

A more zonal west to east flow goes across the country, so it’ll warm up. Now it won’t be terribly hot except here in California. The rest of the nation. This is really looking like a fall pattern with the jetstream, looking stronger, be more south towards the U.S. border.

Tropical activity showing up again, in a long, long range charts. Maybe from mid to late next week something to keep an eye on. Thanks for listening and watching to the Day weather podcast. Hopefully you can get through the storm. Okay, talk to you Wednesday.

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Wyoming Weather: Don Day Says This Snowstorm Is “The Real Deal”

Published on September 7, 2020September 7, 2020 in weather

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Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day doesn’t mince words.

“This is the real deal. There is no turning back folks. This is going to be a very intense storm in front for this early in September,” Day said in his daily forecast.

“First, we have a shot of very cold, arctic air coming in, then overrun by warmer moist air coming up over on top of it. So we’ve got a perfect setup for heavy precipitation,” Day said.

That means heavy rain in some areas, heavy snow in some areas, record breaking low temperatures in some areas.

It depends on where you are in the state of Wyoming, but wherever you are, you will be impacted by this storm.

Computer models are showing up to 17 inches of snow in the Wind Rivers, 13 inches of snow in the Big Horns, and 12 inches of snow in the Snowys.

On the plains along the I-80 corridor, 8 – 12 inches are possible while the I-25 corridor could see the same.

There are few areas of the state that won’t get hit by precipitation.

As for the cold air, expect anywhere from 12 – 50 degrees below normal temperatures for this time of year.

As Day said last week, this is a “good news, bad news” situation. The good news is that the fire season is likely over. The bad news is that the growing season is likely over.

If you want to attempt to salvage the growing season, Day had Shane Smith, Director Emeritus of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens on his podcast this morning to share tips on how to save your plants.

The following is a computer-generated transcript of the podcast. Or you can watch the video embedded above.

Welcome to Monday, Labor Day, September 7 2020. Well, it’s 2020. Right, you can throw everything normal out the window and we’re gonna do that. Over here the next 24 to 72 hours. This is the real deal. There is no turning back folks. This is going to be a very intense storm in front for this early in September.

If this was late September, early October really wouldn’t be unusual. But this is something that seems to be about four to six weeks early. We got to go back really to the 80s. There was a front like this in 1985.

They came into the Rockies with a similar situation and similar amounts of snow and cold. It’s not a matter of will the growing season and will it will for most of you. Not all of you but in many areas, especially east of the Continental Divide, growing seasons over although we’re going to get some tips from Scott Smith here at the end. To help us maybe get through this. If you want to keep that garden going snow is going to be down to 4000 feet.

Hunters are going to go from hunting and shirtsleeves, the hunting and, well snow travel impacts will be high tonight through Tuesday night, interstate 80, interstate 70, and I 25 will all have poor travel conditions, maybe some closures.

Now in typical fashion when we have these early season fronts like this, you usually have great fall weather behind them. And that’s exactly what we’re gonna see by this weekend. And next week we go right back to nice weather again, snow will be melting away, but boy, it’s gonna leave some impacts.

And Shane Smith is going to visit with us. He’s going to help give us some tips on how to prepare for this onslaught of cold and snow. Here comes the cold front. This is by six o’clock mountain time tonight, boy and you can really see it.

Here’s all the heat that we’ve had here since late last week and over the weekend, much above average temperatures, but you can see by six o’clock tonight. Basically the front is going to be right along here. Now it always gets held up

By the continental divide a little bit, but you see that purple, that’s the really cold air. So we’re going to get through most of this Labor Day for this part of the region right here is going to stay warm. This is going to be another very warm above normal September day.

But if you go up into Montana, northern and central Wyoming, South Dakota, Northern Nebraska, all Montana, back into Idaho, we’ll look at all the cold. Moving on and look at the western extended the colder air, pushing all the way into Eastern Washington and Oregon. This is a huge cold front.

Now here we are with the Jetstream. And there’s no reason why this isn’t going to happen. We’ve got this big ridge of high pressure in the Gulf of Alaska. We know what happens with that. That is bringing in this wave of cold and really here is the bulk of the cold and the energy right here. Then you can see the northerly wind flow coming in to bring in that cold air. There’s nothing that’s going to stop the cold air once it gets to this point. There’s no turning back

Cold air is dense, it’s heavy. And once it starts moving, you can’t stop it. Now by Tuesday noon, notice we’ve got a closed low. Over you top, the cold air pours over the divide. And what we have here in this situation what’s called over running, the very cold air gets along and east of the Continental Divide, the counterclockwise spin around the low throws moisture over and on top of the cold air.

This is a great way to make it rain and snow. So what we have at first is a shot a very cold, arctic air coming in, then overrun by warmer moist air coming up over on top of it. So we’ve got a perfect setup for heavy precipitation.

And you can see the cold air continues to advance. And this is what precipitation looks like with the storm. Look at all of the yellow, the blue, and the orange and even the reds. This is something that’s interesting showing up right here in the most recent model trends. If that upper level low stays out, over

Utah, well, we’re going to have a lot of help in Colorado’s mountain areas to get significant snow and single stars rain but we’ll turn as snow. Look at the Front Range areas here. And the eastern plains with this wide swath of an inch or more in many areas, even areas out here in eastern Colorado in western Kansas, a half to three quarters to an inch of water.

And notice these little stretches of orange in the mountains look at the Wind River mountains. Look at the Big Horn mountains, the southern mountains of Wyoming in northern Colorado. We’re going to be looking at hopefully an end of the fire season.

The camera peak fire near Estes Park Colorado has raged over the last several days in this heat and wind but hopefully this front will put it into that fire or go a long way to ending it. But you can see extensive amounts of precipitation in the form of rain and snow we haven’t seen in a long time. west of the divide once you get past Utah here, Idaho you’re

likely not going to see much precipitation, but even the western slope of Colorado, the western slopes of Wyoming, look at all the way down into New Mexico. Then you can see the heavier precipitation down here in Texas and Oklahoma, as that low swing south through there, this is what it looks like with snow.

I think this is a good representation of where the heavy snow will be. They have a snow in the purple areas there but anywhere you see gray or blue snow could certainly accumulate at least on the grassy areas. But we’re gonna see the major mountain ranges catch the bulk of the snow, places like Cheyenne places like chugwater places like Denver along the Palmer divide the foothills west of Fort Collins Loveland.

Gonna see significant September snow. These are temperatures by Wednesday morning. This is why we’re likely going to see an into the growing season in many areas, if there’s anything encouraging is is that due to the fact that the storm looks like it’s slowing down, that may add additional cloud cover Tuesday night, any year

That don’t have clouds Tuesday night could be looking at record breaking temperatures. These are probably record breaking temperatures for any for many areas anyway, as we look ahead, these are temperatures relative to average by Wednesday. Look at this Denver 48 degrees below average for Denver by noon on Wednesday.

Many other areas are 30 to 40 degrees or more below average look at the extent of the cold west of the divide, even digging in the air. Look at this Page, Arizona 32 degrees below average. So this is a bonafide real big cold front. You don’t see these very often. Now as we get into Thursday.

The cold air does begin to march off to the east but the upper level low is left back over Utah still basically gets cut off from the flow. So what this means is do not expect a quick warm up during the workweek into Wednesday into Thursday and into Friday. It’s going to still stay very cool. However, by

The weekend, high pressure rebuilds. We have a low up here helping to build high pressure back into the region. Now we’re not going back to the heat, but we’re going to go into that really nice September weather that you get. When you get these strong cold fronts like this, you do tend to get some nice fall weather.

Don’t worry, we’ve got lots of fall coming, lots of nice fall weather coming. It’s just that the growing season for all of you, and most of you rather I should say, is coming to an end. And this is going to be one storm to remember for sure. We’re going to wake up Wednesday morning to many areas in Wyoming, Colorado with the most snow we’ve seen, going back to last winter. Now let’s hear from Shane Smith, author Director Emeritus of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. He’s gonna help us get through this.

If you’re in an area where you’re pretty sure that you’re going to freeze which is an awful lot of your listening area.

Number one is I would go out and do a big harvest, you know, even if some of your tomatoes aren’t quite ripe, you know, some squashes there. Depending where you live, there is a much that can survive when you get down into the lower 20s of the teams. You can do some covering, and you might be able to eke out a save.

It’s just depends where you live and how the weather is going to hit you. And if it’s looking like, you know, the low, the low 20s and into the teens, it’s it’s over.

But if it looks like you’re in an area where it’s going to get down, dip, dip below freezing and not for that many hours, meaning down into 28 or so. Then easily you can cover stuff, you probably don’t have to do much of a harvest. And, you know, there’s some other strategies you can do for those of you that might be fortunate with that slightly below freezing mark and that would be besides covering

sometimes you can if you water the plants down really good the water we talked about this in spring the latent heat of water can help prevent a frost This is what you see the fruit growers do down in Florida where do you see icicles on the oranges and, and so that’s a old method that works but it only works down to about 2827 at the best. And getting back to covering things.

Quite often the first thing people grab is a clear piece of plastic film, you know visqueen are polyethylene and and that works fine except if it’s coming with heavy snow. You might need to put some stakes up to support that plastic so the snow doesn’t come collapsing down on top of your tender crops and crack the binds and leaves and such. The other thing if you’re using it any sort of clear covering

As soon as the day comes that the sun is out and we’re getting back above freezing, or even getting close, keep an eye on it because those little clear tents that you build to protect your plants become super super hot and you go from dealing with frost dealing with 100 and 1500 and 20 degree situations under the plastic and so you might have saved and saved the night and then you lost it during the day so just don’t walk away from it. You know, keep keep an eye on things.

You know, just in general getting back to people who might be facing a lighter frost. The main priority the most sensitive plants are the fruiting crops, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, eggplant, squashes, those guys don’t like it below freezing at all.

There are some crops that can take a light for us that would be your leafy crops. Let us spend

That would be plants that we call the coal Colm coal crop family. That would be things like cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage,

they can all take a very light frost without much problem. Again, it’s kind of a cumulative thing. If you get down to 2827. And you hold it for many, many hours, that’s harder on a plant than if you just dip down to that a few hours before sunrise. So the length of those temperatures also have a cumulative effect of the damage. But so if you’re going to prioritize and you’re in a lighter frost area, that’s a way to prioritize spend your energy covering the fruiting crops.

But beyond that,if we’re seeing a snow event coming which it sounds like there’s a lot of your listening area that will see snow, unfortunately.

Number one, you might go see a therapist just to For the depression of seeing your summer and just had such a brutal way, but number two, if the leaves are still on the trees, which of course they are, even if they’re frost Brown, they’re going to accumulate snow much quicker than a naked tree in the wintertime. And so expect to see some breakage and also plan on going out and shaking your trees during the course of the snow even if it’s in the middle of the night. You might be able to save a shrub or a tree, especially a young one

from total destruction. And the tip I always tell people if you’re going to go out and shake the snow off of a tree, be sure to put on a wide brim hat. That way you won’t get dumped on your head.

But it’s it’s just such an important maintenance thing to try to keep these trees going especially on the High Plains or trees are so so precious. Losing one tree is is awful.

So be prepared and beyond that, you know, if you wake up to death and destruction and pretty much the garden is done and brown and black,

I would suggest turning everything under chopping it up with a sharp shovel. In fact, it helps to sharpen your shovel and chop up the stems and the stocks and whatever else can be chopped up.

And then just lightly turn it under, and that will give you more return nutrition to your soil than if you just let it sit there and dry up on top of the soil. So

that’s least one way to not lose a lot of hard work going into having a healthy crop, at least the nutrients of that crop are going to go back into the soil a little bit better. Thanks for your advice, Shane. Certainly I know a lot of gardeners are disappointed on not having their growing seasons as long as they had hoped it would be Shane’s gonna join us

With some other tips for this upcoming fall season and future programs

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Wyoming Weather: Get Ready For Snow

Published on September 4, 2020September 4, 2020 in weather/Don Day

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We were holding out hope that a change in the weather pattern would mean the talk of snow early next week would dissipate.

Fuggedaboutit. It’s happening.

Wyoming weatherman Don Day gave us absolutely no hope on Friday afternoon as he killed the thought of a reprieve from the wintry grim reaper.

“Our confidence in snowfall on Monday and Tuesday keeps growing,” Day said. “We have a pattern setting up that’s going to cut a lot of Canadian air loose out of the Northwest Territories straight south into Wyoming on Monday night and Tuesday.”

Day said the storm was a “good news, bad news” situation as the fire season will likely end as a result of the storm but so will the growing season.

“This will be a very impactful storm. Because it’s so early in the season, we have a lot of leaves on the trees. The storm could bring some branches down.”

Day said the entire state will be affected by the storm but mountainous areas, locations around the I-25 corridor, and the higher elevations on I-80 (of course, Laramie) will be the hardest hit.

“The crazy thing is all of this is gonna be preceded by some very hot temperatures through the weekend,” he said. “I mean, we’re going to have temperatures in the 80s and 90s. And 36 hours later, we’ll be in the teens and 20s.”

Not all areas of the state will receive measurable snow. Day said locations under 5,000 feet should expect rain and, at worst, a rain/snow mix.

Although rare, wintry patterns at this time year have happened before in Wyoming.

Day points back to 1985 when only six weeks after a devastating flood hit Cheyenne on August 1, the capital city received 10 inches of snow.

Although we can all feel sorry for ourselves, perhaps we should save some empathy for Laramie. After all, their summer was really short.

Day recalled that Laramie got hit by a fluke snowstorm this year on June 8. That storm dumped 10 inches on the community.

“Laramie will only go 90 days between snowstorms this year,” he said. “Talk about a short growing season. This is truly 2020.”

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Don Day Wyoming Weather: 40 Degrees Below Normal, Snow Could Be In Forecast

Published on September 3, 2020September 3, 2020 in weather/Don Day

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It’s going to be a roller coaster of extremes for Wyoming weather over the next few days.

Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day, in his daily podcast, said the state is going to be blasted by desert-heat over the next few days but then the jet stream “buckles,” bringing in cold air from Canada.

“Look at all this purple,” he said of the computer model showing the cold air. In some areas of Wyoming and Colorado the temperatures are 40 degrees below normal.”

Day said the computer model is likely overdoing things but there is a possibility for freezing temperatures and snow — even on the plains — happening next week.

“Look at that, over an inch of snow in Casper and maybe a lot of snow in the Wind Rivers, the Big Horns, the Beartooths, the Front Range mountains of Colorado and the southern Wyoming, and the Laramie Range,” he said while looking at the computer model.

The full rough transcript of his podcast is below. Or just watch the embedded video for more.

———

It’s Thursday, September 3, 2020. And here’s your Day Weather podcast.

Well, folks, it’s gonna be interesting here over the next week in terms of what we’re going to see.

First of all in the short-term, it’s going to get hot again, high pressure builds over and takes over strongly again across the Great Basin and Rockies.

However, it’s temporary because after a big warm up, basically through Sunday over the next four days it’s going to get hot again, then we’re gonna have a big cool-down coming next week. Much colder with rain and yes, folks, we could very well see a chance of snow even on the plains early in the week next week starting late Monday, Labor Day Monday into Tuesday and Wednesday and next week.

Temperatures are going to fall sharply by late Monday into next Tuesday and Wednesday, and we’ll show you why.

Here we are for the forecast for Saturday. Look at this big high on Saturday over the four corners region in the Great Basin. So basically for today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we’re going to have the heat from this desert high rebuild and expand across the Intermountain West in the western plains, with the … main jet stream riding far to our north.

But way back up here in the northern and Western Atlantic, there’s actually some tropical activity, some typhoon activity that’s going to get its energy into the jetstream and cause the jetstream to basically buckle and cause a big area of high pressure to build back up into the Gulf of Alaska.

And here we see it forming by Sunday afternoon into Monday. See the high building in the Gulf of Alaska connected to the Great Basin high right here. And notice the jetstream buckles and when that happens, you get that release of colder air from Canada.

So this is late Sunday into Monday morning. By the timeframe of Tuesday, we have a big high up in the Gulf of Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and it drives another wedge of colder air into the High Plains and Rockies. Now this is very similar to what happened early this week. However, this plunge of colder air is deeper.

There’s going to be more moisture with it. And a lot of the computer models are green on a trough and a strong cold front Monday night Tuesday and Wednesday across the High Plains and Rockies. Now this is both good news and bad news.

The good news is this could be the best chance of widespread precipitation in a long time in the drought-stricken areas of Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, parts of Montana and the Dakotas and into the plains states.

Yes, we are going to see a real big cooldown but it could be wet. Here’s the cool down. Look at all this purple. This is by Tuesday. In some areas of Wyoming and Colorado, temperatures are 40 degrees below normal.

Now that is likely overdone. However, the possibility of freezing temperatures and the first flakes of snow even on the plains could happen next week. If we don’t get cold enough for snow we’ll certainly see some good chances of rain and certainly the high country of Wyoming and Colorado is going to have a good chance of snow.

So for archery hunters headed to the field, next week, you probably are going to see a cold wet pattern up in the mountains for a few days. As we see here, zooming in, look at the close-up of these temperatures. Right here, this is by noon on Tuesday, Denver 46 degrees below average with our temperatures, that basically means temperatures in the upper 30s and lower 40s by noon on Tuesday.

We’ll see if it’s that cold. Models, a lot of timesm overdo things as we well know. But this extensive area purple shows you how impressive that cold air is. But when you get cold air like that this time of year, you’re going to get some upslope conditions that are going to form and hence there you have the good chances of precipitation.

Look at that, over an inch in Casper maybe. A lot of snow in the Wind Rivers, the Big Horns, the Beartooths, the Front Range mountains of Colorado and the southern Wyoming, the Laramie range, even up into the Pine Ridge of Nebraska, the Panhandle, Nebraska, that’s likely going to be rained.

And it’s a pattern folks to pay close attention to because we’re going to go back to hot summer weather here for the next four days. Then we’re going into reverse. And here we are with the forecasts of potential snowfall with this front. Now again, take this with a grain of salt but you can see even down into New Mexico.

We have got this large area by next Tuesday and Wednesday, we’re gonna be cold enough for snow reaching certainly the highest elevations and maybe those lower elevations above 6,000 feet. So it’s something to watch. We’ll update you tomorrow. So be ready for the heat. Then be ready for a 180 again next week. See you on Friday, have a good day.

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Stormchaser Reed Timmer Streaming Severe Weather, Funnel Clouds in Wyoming

Published on May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 in weather

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LIVE on supercell west of Glendo WY
Posted by Reed Timmer Extreme Meteorologist on Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Well-known stormchaser Reed Timmer is in eastern Wyoming today with his eye on the sky watching for severe weather.

Timmer is using Facebook Live to stream what he sees and if you can stand the occasional foul language, it’s great to watch.

“Wow, look at that f*#king thing churn,” Timmer said while pulled over near Glendo.

So far Timmer has provided reports from Douglas, Glendo, and Wheatland.

Well-versed in social media, he has been tweeting simultaneously with his Facebook Live video.

“BIG-TIME plume or deeper moisture is pumping into southeast WY from the NE Panhandle into the #tornado target area for this afternoon/evening. Dominator van in position for intercept,” he tweeted earlier today.

Later he tweeted video of supercell activity over Douglas and Wheatland.

Viewers of Timmer’s live-stream might recall the movie “Twister” where a band of competing storm chasers battled to get the best footage of the storm.

Timmer’s live coverage was available here. When he is able to live-stream again, we will update the link.

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Ask The Weatherman: Can I Plant Tomatoes, Start Sprinkler System Yet?

Published on April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 in Don Day

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No. No. No.

That’s not the voice of a toddler having a meltdown. Rather it’s Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day answering the same questions he gets this time of year — every year.

It’s Groundhog Day for him. Not like the Feb. 2 holiday but rather like the movie.

The meteorologist says in late April and early May he always gets asked the same three things:

Is it OK to plant tomatoes?
Is it OK to start-up the sprinkler system?
Is it done snowing?

The answer to these questions is always the same: No.

Seems like people in the Rocky Mountain West have a short memory.

Just last year, listeners in the region where his podcast is targeted experienced snow through the third week of June. Not a typo. June.

That doesn’t mean the really cold temperatures went along with that snow. But it does mean that we’re not out of the woods yet. We probably have about three weeks before, as he puts it, we can start to breathe easier.

“You have to remind yourself that it is usually the second or third week of May before our average last frost/freeze date,” he said.

Day said even though areas in Wyoming will see temperatures in the 80s on Thursday, don’t expect the Cowboy State to be be free of snow for two to three more weeks.

“We tend to have to get through the middle part of May,” he said. “It’s usually around or after Mother’s Day weekend before we’re done with the stuff.”

Even though the Arctic days are probably behind us, Day recommends not starting-up your sprinkler system yet.

“While we are probably done with severe freezing, we aren’t done with freezing. So if you want to wait and let Mother Nature bring the rain. Hold off on that sprinkler system, certainly I would.”

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Don Day: Say Goodbye to Purple Monster and Hello to Warmer Weather

Published on April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 in weather/Don Day

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The following is a rushed transcript of Don Day’s Wyoming forecast for Thursday, April 16. For best results, watch the video.

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It feels like January 16, not April 16 out there.

Better weather is coming. The current storm system willl continue to bring snow and unseasonable cold conditions throughout a good part of the day. But I think by early to mid afternoon, I think we’ll see the snow really come to a quick end on the plains although it will continue in the high country.

Possible record cold in many areas tonight. We are looking at lows in record territory.

This storm has brought a lot of cold and snow back into the region. We are getting reports of two feet of snow or more in the mountains of southern Wyoming.

Temperatures are going to moderate some by Friday and through the weekend.

*18 inches of snow in Lander (Bill Sniffin photo)*

Better weather is coming. It’s going to be more mild but not necessarily a dry pattern. I do see opportunities for more precipitation coming but the good news is that the severe cold — at least for now — is going to ease starting tomorrow and moreso by the weekend.

This is where we are right now. Here is that low we’ve been watching all week. It’s come in about as expected bringing the snow and the cold but it will head off to the east allowing a bit of a change in the weather pattern.

By Sunday, we’ll see more of a westerly flow from the Pacific. We still have a Gulf of Alaska ridge but it is not as strong.

So a more mild air flow.

As we look ahead we do see that the temperatures just get off the charts tonight and tomorrow. These are temperatures relative to average for later today.

You can see a lot of purple. Yesterday, I had several questions about the purple monster. This is the purple monster that we were talking about — the severe cold.

It’s not this purple monster but Barney was my inspiration. Notice the color of Barney very close to the color of the severe cold showing up on the weather charts here.

We can say goodbye to Barney and the purple monster and warmer temperatures are heading our way.

Look at all the yellow and orange. We will see the temperatures get a little bit warmer than normal.

We do see some better days coming — not as severely cold.

You can see that with the upper level charts. This is by Tuesday morning. High pressure not nearly as strong in the Gulf of Alaska. This big low is pushing and trying to erase that.

We have this little guy in California that’s going to come our way. This is why we are saying it will be more mild but not necessarily dry.

This low will produce instability and moisture that could bring us some good old fashioned shower activity next week. At least it will be mild.

By late next week and next weekend, here’s our next troublemaker.

We have another low coming in from the Great Basin. This system needs to be watched. Right now, I’ll give it a question mark.

But if we were to talk about the next larger storm, it will be late next week or the weekend of the 25th or the 26th with another low coming in behind it.

What we’re seeing though is notice this blue area here. It is smaller. We are seeing the polar vortex kind of losing steam as we get to late April into early May which is what we would expect.

That should mean not as much cold air getting cut loose. But at the same time, with these systems coming through, precipitation chances are going to remain fairly frequent.

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Don Day: Wyo is “Plagued By Big Purple Monster of Cold Air” as Storm Approaches

Published on April 15, 2020April 15, 2020 in weather/Don Day

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The following is a rushed transcript of Don Day’s Wyoming weather forecast. For best results, watch the above video.

Winter Storm will be moving thru and then improving weather is coming.

We will have periods of moderate to heavy snow for many areas of southern Wyoming.

Confidence is very high. We’ve seen this pattern dozens of times and it is one of those patterns that makes it snow and the confidence is high.

Temperatures will moderate some by Friday and then into the weekend. So there are some better days ahead.

It’s not going to get real warm but it’s going to get warmer than it is right now and more spring-like.

Heads up travelers and stockgrowers. Be prepared for the next 48 hours. We’ve got stressful livestock conditions coming. Be prepared for winter conditions thru early Friday.

Here is the updated precipitation forecast for Wyoming. You can see that it is a forecast that basically looks the same as I’ve shown you for the last several days.

The east/west trending area of heavier precipitation. We have that really strong jet stream wind that’s coming over and on top of a Canadian cold front that is going to back up against the mountains.

Then Pacific moisture is coming in from Washington and Oregon. So basically, we have three things. Good moisture, strong upper level jet stream winds, and a surge of Canadian air.

Also, we’ve got upslope winds coming underneath. This is one of the situations where the surface winds are coming in upslope from the northeast.

But the upper level jet stream winds are coming in from the west /northwest. So they are coming in from opposite directions and that adds lift to the atmosphere. That is one reason why we are so confident that what you see here will transpire.

You can see that the I-25 corridor — Wyoming into the front range of Colorado — is under the gun for significant snow. And then Interstate 80 from southwest Nebraska and southern Wyoming all the way to Evanston.

You can see the Sno-Chi-Minh trail — Rawlins to Laramie and then Laramie to Cheyenne is going to be hit pretty hard with significant snow. And since temperatures are so cold so the roads are going to be much worse with this storm when compared to the last one.

Snowfall totals. If we were to use a 10-1 ratio, it would look like this. You can see a lot areas are over six inches. You can see the pink. Over a foot of snow.

Because temperatures are going to be colder, this could be under-forecasted in the snow amounts.

If we use another snow forecasting tool called Cuchera, you can see that with the air colder, the snow amounts could be a little heavier.

You see in the southern mountains over 20 inches, that probably is going to take place.

Be ready for the return of winter weather conditions. By tomorrow, these are our temperatures relative to normal.

You can see plagued by this big purple monster of unseasonably cold air banked up against the front range and the continental divide.

As we go forward, things look better.

Purple monster goes away and we get some orange and yellow on the map. We start to see near average temperatures return by the middle of next week.

So it’s not all bad news.

Just to give you an example of the jet stream pattern. We’ve mentioned this over the last week or so. This is something we would normally see in mid-winter.

There is a huge trough coming in the United States and it isn’t just us, everybody in this area here across Canada and the US is experiencing very cold April weather.

By Sunday, we still have a west coast ridge but it’s not going all the way up into Alaska and the flow of air into Wyoming is more from here. More from the coastal areas of Washington, Oregon, and northern California so that means the air will be more mild.

Going out further, by next Thursday the flow is more westerly. More directed toward central and southern California which means it will get more mild.

We showed you this yesterday, there is now a trough in the Gulf of Alaska instead of a ridge. That changes things. That means more mild Pacific air for us and less Canadian air being more directed this way.

We will see a modest warming trend this weekend through the middle of next week.

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Don Day: Wyoming Weather Forecasting Severely Affected by Coronavirus

Published on April 2, 2020April 2, 2020 in weather

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The accuracy of long-term weather forecasting is being severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Wyoming meteorologist Don Day.

Day said the lack of international air travel makes it much more challenging for meteorologists to accurately predict the weather five days out and beyond.

Many airplanes making international flight, Day said, are now equipped with radar equipment called AMDAR that sends vital upper level wind, temperature, and humidity data near jet stream level information to meteorologists. Since airline traffic has decreased significantly in recent weeks, much less weather information is available for computer modeling.

“The oceans have very little weather data as it is,” Day said. “Since we don’t have nearly as many flights across the oceans, we’re not getting this weather data and this is creating a real weakness in the modeling.

“Meteorologists may be able to fill in some of the gaps with some satellite data,” he continued. “But until we get aircraft going across the oceans at the rate they were before, we are going to be looking at weather forecasts out in the five-day-plus period that are going to be very poor.”

Day said he told people frequently before the pandemic to view with skepticism any weather forecasts made for further than five days in the future.

“They should — pandemic or not — not be relied on,” Day said. “But now they should really, really not be relied on.”

Don Day Weather: Snow With Cold Temps Will Make it “Really Nasty”

Published on April 1, 2020April 1, 2020 in weather

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Enjoy the last few hours of spring. Another cold front will be making its way into the Cowboy State.

And this cold front is really cold. Wyoming weatherman Don Day says winter weather is back and part of the state will experience snow and temperatures close to zero.

Watch the video above or read the rushed transcript below.

It is going to be really cold, here. Over the next 48 hours, most of you will experience mild temperatures today, Thursday and Friday will feel like February.

Temperatures will be between 25 and 35 degrees below average.

The next 48 hours will not be fun. Especially for those who feel cooped up and who doesn’t.

You have a little bit of an opportunity for awhile today before the bad weather comes in on Thursday and Friday.

Over the next three days, this is what the precipitation forecast looks like over the intermountain west.

You can see the blue area. The blue area is where we are going to see the heavier snow.

There is a strip that goes southwest to northeast across south central Wyoming through central and east central Wyoming and up to the Black Hills.

This axis — right here — could end up a bit more north or it will probably end up a little more south than the model shows.

It could be more like this as the system sinks in as the really cold Canadian air coming in behind it.

This is what the snowfall output looks like. The heavier snow is underneath the heavier band.

This is probably going to end up a little south. Central and east central Wyoming and along I-80 here is where the bulk of the heavier snow will fall.

Most of this will be snow. It will start off as rain. There will even be south thunderstorm activity in southeastern Wyoming later today as this front approaches.

Be ready for winter weather. By our standards, this is not a big spring snow storm. But some snow with the really cold temperatures will make it downright nasty.

A lot of purple on this map. This is a very cold air mass for early April.

You’ve seen this before. This is a really big drop in temperatures coming.

Anyone in calving operations, you want to protect livestock for a good 48 hours from this pending cold snap.

These are our overnight temperatures on Friday morning. These are fahrenheit not celsius.

In the grey area, these are single digits to below zero. There is a pocket here in northeastern Wyoming.

Teens, lower 20s. And this is early April. This is a very cold wave coming with Wyoming in the bullseye in the cold temperature readings. So when you wake up on Friday it won’t feel like April at all.

However, we will see some rebounding temperatures this weekend.

Don Day’s Wyoming Weather Forecast for Thursday, March 26

Published on March 26, 2020March 26, 2020 in News/weather

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Unsettled weather is going to be the rule. Scattered rain and snow and fog will be found across the lower elevations again today.

A stronger storm system is still poised to move in on Friday and early Saturday. But we have horrendous computer model agreement, I am afraid to say. Like last week’s storm.

Now better weather is coming in behind the system for Sunday and early next week.

Although I have to tell you that the models are in complete disarray once we get past next Wednesday.

So we aren’t going to talk too far into the future today. Hopefully we will have more clarity tomorrow.

Here is the upper level low coming in the California coast — this is by early Friday. You can see that we’ve got the storm system coming into the four corners area.

It is not closed off yet though We really like to see these four corners low get closed off right here about this time to become a big impactful storm for the front range of Wyoming and Colorado.

However, by Saturday morning, the system does get better organized. We have the closed low over northwest Kansas and this will bring some upslope into this area here during late Friday and into Saturday morning.

These are the areas affected the most. This is looking almost identical to the storm we had a week ago.

The heaviest precipitation in northeast Colorado and portions of Nebraska. That is where the heaviest moisture will fall.

On the backside of this system, more of a moderate event of rain and snow. But it is an impactful storm, nonetheless.

We are going to have some stout and strong northwest winds again on the backside of this system as it moves thru Friday night and Saturday.

So if you are traveling in this area, be prepared for wet to slick to slushy roads especially above 6,000 feet. Stockgrowers be ready for cold, wet, windy conditions in this area here which will affect young and weak livestock.

Snowfall totals look like this. Now, I do expect that there will be a high degree of variability in terms of who gets the heaviest snow and not.

But if we were to go with the higher terrain, especially above 5,000 and 6,000 feet is where the most snow is falling.

Out on the plains of Colorado and Kansas and Nebraska, stockgrowers need to watch out for wet, spring, wind-driven snow.

Again, this is almost identical to what happened a week ago.

The upper level low moves out into the Great Lakes area on Wednesday and Thursday.

And look at this: we’ve got an area of high pressure moving in.

So as we get into Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we are likely to have some good weather.

So we get a happy face. Better weather which a lot of folks would like to have. We have it early next week.

But up here we have another trough and by the second half of next week, these systems could be moving in.

However, they may also stay up here and stay up in Canada. There is a lot of disagreement.

One thing that we do see: we have a storm to deal with on Friday and early Saturday, then we have a break in the weather for Sunday through Tuesday and maybe lasting into Wednesday.

Thanks for listening and watching the Day Weather Podcast. Have a good day.

Don Day’s Wyoming Weather Forecast for Monday, February 24

Published on February 24, 2020August 20, 2020 in weather

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The following is a rushed transcript of Don Day’s weather forecast for Monday, February 24.

Welcome to Monday, it is February 24. Thanks for tuning in to the Day Weather podcast.

The week starts off cold and blustery across the intermountain west. One two punch of cold fronts will affect us thru mid-week with much colder conditions after what was a pretty decent weekend for many of you before things started to change on Sunday.

Now we are heading back to winter weather again. What I’m going to be outlining here is the snowfall through Thursday across the intermountain west.

Most of Montana, Wyoming, western South Dakota, western Nebraska, and a large part of Colorado will see some snow. The heaviest snow will fall over and near the mountain ranges and you can see just enough snow will be falling on the plains combined with some very strong and cold northwest winds — which will add some wind chill and make roads and highways icy.

This is not a pattern that is going to bring anyone a lot of snow on the plains. It’s nuisance snow — just enough to make roads and highways slick. Just enough that you might have to shovel the sidewalk, the driveway, wipe off the car windshield — that type of snow.

Temperatures are going to be a lot colder over the next two to three days and plenty of wind along and east of the Continental Divide along the wind prone areas.

We will see a bit of a change though as the pattern does get better by the end of the week. I want to show you how the jet stream will evolve.

Right now we have high pressure building along the northwest coast. This is causing an area of low pressure to come into the Rockies and high plains.

We are looking at a forecast for Tuesday that is showing the cold air getting pumped in behind the low swinging through the region. That is why is going to be a cold and blustery start of the week.

here’s some good news. This is the jet stream for Friday night into the weekend. Notice we have a little mountain, a ridge of high pressure which will develop over the intermountain west as we get into Friday, Saturday, and early Sunday.

At the end of the week and probably most of the weekend, we will have another break in the weather. Not unlike what happened late this past weekend where we had a bit of a mild stretch. Didn’t have much wind and the weather looked good.

However, off the Pacific Northwest coast, there is another troff poised to come in. As we look ahead into Monday, March 2, that same low digs down into the four corners area.

Here we go. Early next week — Monday and Tuesday — we could be looking at an area of low pressure over the four corners area and the intermountain west just in time for the start of March. Really right on schedule.

As you get into March, as we well know, the weather gets more active. Here’s another system. Doesn’t look like much right now. But this is going to be another low that is going to come in and swing behind it three days later.

So March is going to start off busy. Bundle up. Get ready for a cold blustery start of the week with a little bit of snow. Good weather at the end of the week and the weekend. Then another storm early next week.

Thanks for watching the Day Weather Podcast.

Don Day’s Weather Forecast for Friday, February 21, 2020

Published on February 21, 2020April 12, 2020 in News/weather/Wyoming

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This is a rushed transcript of today’s Don Day weather forecast: Good morning and good Friday to everybody. Thanks for watching the Day Weather podcast.

Well, we’ve enjoyed some pretty quiet weather. Yesterday, was gorgeous across the region. Sunshine, not much wind, a little chilly but a really day that gives you spring fever a little bit.

For today and Saturday, for the most part, we’ve got two more days of quiet weather across Wyoming. It really looks nice for two more days.

We’ve got a little bit of a storm system that is going to bring some rain to southern California today and tomorrow.

Then it is going to come up and produce some snow. I’ll show you the snow forecast from one of our computer models that takes us through Sunday afternoon.

Notice it will be Colorado’s mountains and western slope that sees the best chance of accumulating snow and look how the northern part of this system just barely gets into southern Wyoming.

This area here is a question mark. If the low tracks a little more north, I think this system could bring some snow to places like Laramie and Cheyenne.

If it goes a little more south, it could all stay south of the border.

There are a lot of question marks right in northeast Colorado. It could very well be dry as the model is showing but this band of snow along Interstate 70 we are pretty confident about.

We may see this band go north or south. I guess what I’m leading up to here is there are a lot of question marks as to where the best snow is going to fall on Sunday especially in eastern Colorado.

The question mark is if it will get into Laramie or Cheyenne because it’s right on the edge.

Notice the rest of Wyoming will have a very nice day on Sunday.

But things will change next week. We go to a colder pattern. Here is the snow forecast through Wednesday.

And you can see the winds aloft coming from the northwest again. That drags some cold air and this will bring cold out into the plains in most of Wyoming from Monday thru Wednesday next week.

This snow, that you see right here, is coming Monday through Wednesday, along with a pretty good drop of temperatures.

So the nice weather lasts for two more days. Three days for some of you. Then early next week, expect a change.

And here, we can see the upper level pattern of the jet stream, this is by Tuesday morning. It gets much colder again.

Tjhis high pressure ridge will move east. Monday thru Wednesday will turn quite a bit colder.

But the end of next week and into next weekend, the high pressure will likely move in temporarily.

One thing I want to show you, we’ve shown it before : the eastern Pacific oscillation. It is an indication of how stormy a pattern may be in the Rockies and the high plains. Anytime we see the eastern Pacific oscillation near this zero line or below it, it means an active pattern.

This is where we are right now. Notice how nice the weather is right now? The eastern Pacific oscillation is in a positive phase.

But as we get into next week and beyond, the oscillation forecast average is right near the zero mark. You see these dips? These ups and downs.

This takes us up to early April. We expect March to be more busy.

Thanks for watching the Day weather podcast. See you on Monday.

Wyoming Weatherman Don Day’s Forecast for February 14

Published on February 14, 2020July 10, 2020 in weather

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The following is a rushed transcription of Don Day’s weather forecast for February 14 and the President’s Day weekend.

Good morning. Hello everyone. Happy Valentine’s Day. Thanks for watching the Day Weather podcast.

It’s all about the wind over the next couple days. Today and Saturday. Winds are going to be picking up. Especially true for viewers in Wyoming where I-80 and I-25 will be hit by high winds, blowover risks, blowing and drifting snow and out in the open areas along secondary roads.

It will definitely be a concern.

As we take a look past the next two days, which generally speaking for today and Saturday, other than mountain snow showers, looks fairly dry.

But we do see another weather system that will bring snow back into Wyoming late Saturday but especially into Sunday.

As we get into Sunday and President’s Day Monday, this is the snow forecast. Notice we have snow in all of the mountain ranges and the Rockies. But also we will see the possibility that we will see snow east of the Continental Divide Sunday night but especially Monday into Tuesday.

Also there is going to be snow near the mountains along the western slopes of Wyoming, Colorado, and into the Wasatch front of Utah as well.

As we have seen for most of the several weeks, the mountains have really gotten the bulk of the snow. That will continue.

But since this is a three day weekend, just a heads-up along I-80, I-25, I-90, there will be some wintry weather on Sunday night into Monday.

So if you have a three day weekend, keep that in mind. It’s not a big storm but enough to be a nuisance.

And there is a lot of cold air that’s going to come in and make Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday quite a bit colder all throughout this region for the first half of next week.

Warmer, windy today and Saturday. Then Sunday and Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday be ready for some wintry weather again.

We are anticipating late next week a warmup. I think as we get into the following weekend, there could be a thaw. The first half of next week looks pretty cold. Late next week and next weekend a thaw.

But after that, things get interesting again.

This is a very long range outlook. This takes us all the way out to Tuesday, Feb 25. One thing that’s showing up on the modeling is a large low coming into the Four Corners region sometime around Feb 24, 25, 26.

Will this happen? It’s a question mark. But we are seeing signs that this scenario which would be a weather producer is on the table. We talked earlier this week that March could be an active month and it kinda gets started in February. That still looks to be the case.

One thing that I want to show and we pay attention to at Day Weather is sea-surface temperatures. This is a sea surface temperature map of the globe.

Anywhere you see blue, water temperatures are a little cold. Orange and red is a little bit warmer.

These are temperatures relative to what we call averages. Where the cold and warm water is is really important.

Remember how stormy last Spring was. We had that big blizzard last winter in the middle of March. We went into March with one of the busier and stormier Marchs in awhile.

And a lot of that had to do with what the sea surface temperatures were.

This is our current sea surface temperature patterns right now. I want to show you this relative warmth. This is not an El Nino but relative warmth right here north of the equator.

We still have temperatures in the Pacific that are a little bit warmer than average.

This area of colder weather is growing and it could result in La Nina later this year.

But check out the remarkable similarities in the sea surface temperatures in the middle of February to where we were a year ago.

A year ago today, this is what they look like. This is what they look like now.

A year ago, it was a little bit colder in the Indian Ocean. We also have the same coolness developing here.

But this relative area of warmth right here and right here is very similar to where we were a year ago.

So the table is set late February into March that this warmer water temperature — again not very warm but just warm enough — to add more energy and moisture into the west United States in the beginning of March and the end of February.

we’ll keep you up to date on these sea surface temperatures occasionally.

Thanks for watching the Day Weather podcast. Have a great weekend. Talk to you on Monday.

Don Day Wyoming Weather forecast for Thursday, February 13

Published on February 13, 2020February 13, 2020 in weather

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The following is a transcription of Don Day’s weather forecast for Thursday, February 13.

A pleasant and good Thursday everybody. Thanks for listening and watching the Day Weather podcast.

Let’s take a look at what’s coming over the next few days. We did some snow last night. A couple of inches in Cheyenne and Laramie and Casper got some snow. Central and northeast Wyoming too.

That system is moving out. As we get into today, quiet and cold today. Good news is that we don’t expect much wind. Just a good old fashioned cold February day.

As the snow flurries will be coming to an end today. The problem is what we have for Friday and Saturday.

Outside of mountain snow showers, it will be generally dry. But here’s the issue, we’ve got the wind picking up and this is going to be a problem for travelers.

Look at the wind picking up along I-25 and I-80 and the gap areas of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming’s mountain areas.

We are going to have some blowing snow Friday along I-25 and along I-80 as we get into tomorrow and tomorrow night the winds will pick up in the Shirley Basin / Casper area as well.

If you have to travel, as we get into Friday and Saturday, the I-80 corridor and along I-25 will be something to watch for.

However, for today, Friday, and Saturday, other than snow showers over near the mountains, we’re looking for quiet weather.

The next weather event coming our way is something we need to watch for President’s Day weekend.

During the day Sunday, we will see snow break out across Wyoming’s western mountains. We have a storm that will swing in from the Pacific Northwest.

As we get into Sunday night and Monday, we are going to see snow and you see it right here, the model will have it coming out on the plains.

We are going to have to watch out — especially in this area here for possibly some accumulating snowfall. Doesn’t look like a big storm but I do think the model might be underplaying the snow possibilities right here as we get into Sunday night and Monday.

We’ve got tomorrow to update you.

Bottom line is: good weather today. Be ready for the wind Friday and Saturday. Then late Sunday and President’s Day, here comes the next chance of snow. And it looks pretty cold again.

Thanks for watching the Day Weather podcast. Talk to you on Friday.

Don Day: Weekend Weather Forecast for Wyoming

Published on February 7, 2020July 25, 2020 in weather

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By Don Day

Wyoming’s weatherman Don Day looks ahead to the weekend with his weather forecast.

Don’t have time to watch the video? Here’s a rough transcript:

It’s Friday, February 7 you are watching to the Day Weather podcast.

The strong and moist jet stream winds coming in from the Northwest continue to slide through Wyoming and Colorado.

One and two feet of snow were reported in the mountains of southern Wyoming and northern Colorado last night.

Two feet of snow was reported at Jackson Hole Ski Area. In fact, Teton Pass is closed for avalanche control.

Some avalanche conditions around Alpine Junction, Wyoming. And we have avalanche warnings in affect for the mountains of central and northern Colorado.

The mountains will see probably see another foot of snow today, tonight, and early tomorrow.

For the lower elevations, a little bit of good news for some areas if you don’t like the snow. It does not look like the heavy snow will get into Cheyenne — probably about 1 -3 inches.

You can see the northwest to southeast trend of where the snow is falling. And notice the snow wants to fall in the mountains and close to the mountains. but we also have this wedge of snow extending into the I-25 corridor of Colorado and the I-70 corridor of Colorado, so you Front Range podcast listeners it looks like you might be receiving a bit more snow than expected. As the heavier snow has shifted more south than west.

This pattern will continue to produce snow and snow showers over the near mountains today and tonight but only light amounts once you get east of the Divide.

As we look forward, we see another system. This is the next system that comes late Saturday night and Sunday.

We have another chance for a little bit of light snow in the central and northern Rockies. But the amount isn’t very heavy.

There’s another little wave diving in with the jet stream from the northwest that will bring a shot of colder air to Colorado and Wyoming Saturday night and Sunday. And maybe a little more in the way of light snow.

This is the current jet stream pattern that we’re in right now. This is going to continue to keep systems coming in from the Pacific Northwest and western Canada and riding thru the western United States.

Our pattern is going to remain active. And the door is open to Canada to keep us cold.

We will see the general trend of plain old-fashioned winter weather. Nothing brutally cold but just chilly and more episodes of snow chances will roll through the Rockies and High Plains off and on throughout next week.

There is nothing that we see that would bring a major snow event our way — just remaining wintry pattern.

Temperatures over the next 10 days. Huge contrast between the central and eastern United States and the colder wet conditions across the western United States.

That’s how things are trending.

Thanks for watching!

Wyoming Weather: Don Day Forecast for Wednesday

Published on February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 in weather

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This is a rough transcript of Don Day’s video podcast for Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

There’s a lot going on weather-wise.

Today, the wind is going to be picking up across the region. It will cause a concern for travelers as blowing and drifting snow is already a problem along I-80 and I-25, especially I-80.

We are in between weather systems today so it’s going to be fairly quiet. We’ll still have to deal with the gusty winds across the state again.

We go into Thursday and Friday, we’ve got another winter storm to talk about.

We have a unique combination of very strong jet stream winds bringing in Pacific winds and moisture and cold air on the ground working together to bring snow to most of the state and region.

The jet stream’s trajectory is coming off of the Pacific off of southern British Columbia and is diving south right across Wyoming and Colorado going right over the Continental Divide.

This is bringing in copious amounts of Pacific moisture right into the heart of the Divide and what’s also impacting things is that we’ve gotten colder. We’ve got cold air packed up along the Divide.

The strong jet stream winds cause the atmosphere to lift. The atmosphere is lifted even more over the mountains that squeezes out the moisture. The cold air provides a little bit of upslope along the Divide.

The pattern of northwest to southeast flowing jet stream winds produces a band of snow that goes right under it — it shadows it.

The snowfall forecast through Saturday morning — the snow is trending northwest to southeast across the area. That’s how the bands are setting up.

The pink and purple you see on the map over the mountain areas — this is going to produce a tremendous amount of snow in the Snowy Range and the Sierra Madres of Wyoming.

Also the Big Horns, the Wind Rivers, the Yellowstone Plateau, and the Jackson area.

The purple area here from Casper to Laramie to Cheyenne to Saratoga and Rawlins and all the way to Denver.

This is a bit of different animal compared to what we’ve had lately. This snow will fall late Thursday, Thursday night, and into Friday and Friday night.

But across the northern half of Wyoming — the Big Horn Basin along the I-90 corridor. It will start as early as tonight.

While the snow in this area will go into full force on Thursday afternoon and overnight Thursday into Friday morning.

There will be tons of headaches for travelers, livestock interests — be prepared for cold, wintry weather conditions again.

These snowbands will migrate east and west. They will wiggle a little bit. This is what the model thinks the heavier snow will be. But the band could end up further east or west.

Right now, this is a good representation of where we think the heavier snow will fall.

The snow will move out by Saturday morning. But another small system could produce snow again on some areas on Sunday and Sunday night.

The hits keep on coming folks. The 10 day forecast. We are highlighting temperatures relative to average.

It will be very warm in the eastern and southeastern United States. You’ll hear on the news how there’s no winter going on.

But look out west from the Dakotas to the Rockies even out to California. By next Friday, notice the severe cold that will continue. This not a little blip, this is a pattern that will be persistent that will go for the next week to 10 days.

We’ve got a lot of tough sledding to get through. If you are a snow lover, you’ll love this forecast for the next week to 10 days.

Wyoming weather

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