Riverton Forecast Office has provided a good summary of the expected weather in Star Valley and Western Wyoming for the next several days through their weekly on-line video.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/riw/?n=weatherbriefing
The next couple days will provide the best opportunity for precipitation since the middle of July.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Cold Smokey Morning in Star Valley
The combination of the arrival of a somewhat cooler and very dry air mass combined with clear skies and light overnight winds resulted in some of the coldest readings in Western Wyoming since about the third week in June.
Here is a list of some of the observed minimums this Saturday morning.
Star Valley Area
3 NW Etna 28
Thayne ES 31
Auburn 31
Etna ES 32
2 NE Etna 33
Afton 33
Smoot 34
Alpine 35
Star Valley Ranch 38
It was cooler in some nearby areas
Bondurant WY 23
West Yellowstone MT 25
Warren Bridge WY 26
Bear Lake Airport ID 27
and not unexpected the coldest reported probably in the United States this morning was at Peter Sinks UT west of Bear Lake where it dipped to 18 above.
The actual air mass is still warm above the strong morning inversions. The Riverton balloon sounding at 6am Saturday morning indicated that the actual freezing level was about 14,000 feet MSL.
The following is a plot of this mornings minimum temperatures in the Star Valley Region.
The Peter Sink observation site is known to be a location of extraordinarily cold temperatures as it is located in a high elevation basin which experiences ideal radiational cooling under these favorable conditions. The local map of minimum temperatures below illustrates this clearly as nearby sitse at somewhat higher elevations were 30 degrees warmer
The smoke which has been a part of the scene in the Star Valley Region the past coupe weeks was very noticeable Saturday morning. The winds on Friday afternoon resulted in a flare up of many of the ongoing fires across the Northwestern states. Here is the map of current fires as of Saturday morning.
While Star Valley is fortunate not to have active fires nearby, we are downwind of many large fires across Idaho. The satellite photo clearing illustrates the trajectory of the smoke from the fires spreading east across northern Lincoln County.
Forecast of the winds turning more from the southwest and strong daytime mixing should result in a thinning of the smoke this afternoon, but until some significant precipitation can occur across the fire affected region, smoke will be a problem for sometime.
Here is a list of some of the observed minimums this Saturday morning.
Star Valley Area
3 NW Etna 28
Thayne ES 31
Auburn 31
Etna ES 32
2 NE Etna 33
Afton 33
Smoot 34
Alpine 35
Star Valley Ranch 38
It was cooler in some nearby areas
Bondurant WY 23
West Yellowstone MT 25
Warren Bridge WY 26
Bear Lake Airport ID 27
and not unexpected the coldest reported probably in the United States this morning was at Peter Sinks UT west of Bear Lake where it dipped to 18 above.
The actual air mass is still warm above the strong morning inversions. The Riverton balloon sounding at 6am Saturday morning indicated that the actual freezing level was about 14,000 feet MSL.
The following is a plot of this mornings minimum temperatures in the Star Valley Region.
The Peter Sink observation site is known to be a location of extraordinarily cold temperatures as it is located in a high elevation basin which experiences ideal radiational cooling under these favorable conditions. The local map of minimum temperatures below illustrates this clearly as nearby sitse at somewhat higher elevations were 30 degrees warmer
The smoke which has been a part of the scene in the Star Valley Region the past coupe weeks was very noticeable Saturday morning. The winds on Friday afternoon resulted in a flare up of many of the ongoing fires across the Northwestern states. Here is the map of current fires as of Saturday morning.
While Star Valley is fortunate not to have active fires nearby, we are downwind of many large fires across Idaho. The satellite photo clearing illustrates the trajectory of the smoke from the fires spreading east across northern Lincoln County.
 | ||||||
| Visible satellite photo Saturday morning 8/25/12 |
Forecast of the winds turning more from the southwest and strong daytime mixing should result in a thinning of the smoke this afternoon, but until some significant precipitation can occur across the fire affected region, smoke will be a problem for sometime.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Riverton Weekly Weather Briefing
Star Valley has had a very uneventful August, weatherwise. It has been dry and warm. Through August 23rd all three CoCoRaHS www.cocorahs.org Observers in the valley, here at Star Valley Ranch, Thayne and just south of Smoot have reported .10 inches of rain. The normal amount for the month of August is about 1.5 inches. The current dry pattern does not support much of a chance of rain the remainder of the month.
Worthy subject matter for blogging has been hard to come by this summer. However Riverton WFO has provided an excellent on-line weather briefing video for the coming week, which includes an update of the ever expanding drought conditions.
Here is the link for the briefing
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/riw/?n=weatherbriefing
Worthy subject matter for blogging has been hard to come by this summer. However Riverton WFO has provided an excellent on-line weather briefing video for the coming week, which includes an update of the ever expanding drought conditions.
Here is the link for the briefing
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/riw/?n=weatherbriefing
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Wyoming Drought Update-Star Valley Excluded thus far
The National Weather Service Forecast Office
in Riverton has issued a statement on the
spreading drought conditions across much of
Wyoming.
DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY 753 PM MDT THU AUG 2 2012 ...SEVERE AND EXTREME DROUGHT SPREAD INTO NORTHERN
AND EASTERN WYOMING DURING JULY... ...PARTS OF THE SOUTHWEST IN EXTREME OR SEVERE
DROUGHT RECEIVE ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL IN JULY... SYNOPSIS... THE LATEST U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR FOR WYOMING RELEASED
ON JULY 31ST SHOWED MODERATE DROUGHT /D1/ OR WORSE
ACROSS ALL BUT THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF THE STATE,
OR ROUGHLY ALONG AND EAST OF AN AFTON TO DUBOIS TO
CODY LINE. SEVERE DROUGHT /D2/ OR WORSE HAD EXPANDED NORTH ACROSS MOST OF THE NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST.
EXTREME DROUGHT /D3/ REMAINED ACROSS SWEETWATER COUNTY
INTO FAR SOUTHERN FREMONT COUNTY...AND FAR EASTERN
LINCOLN AND UINTA COUNTIES. EXTREME /D3/ DROUGHT HAD
ALSO EXPANDED FROM THE HIGH PLAINS INTO EASTERN
WYOMING. ABNORMALLY DRY /D0/ CONDITIONS WERE
OBSERVED ACROSS MOST OF NORTHWEST WYOMING WITH THE
EXCEPTION OF NORTHERN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
ONE YEAR AGO...WYOMING WAS 100 PERCENT FREE OF DROUGHT
OR ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS. ABNORMALLY DRY /D0/
OR MODERATE /D1/ DROUGHT CONDITIONS DEVELOPED MORE
RAPIDLY THROUGH THE SPRING AFTER A BELOW NORMAL WINTER
SNOWPACK AND A VERY WARM AND DRY SPRING.
ROCK SPRINGS HAD THE WARMEST AND DRIEST SPRING
MARCH-MAY) ON RECORD. JUNE 2012 WAS THE DRIEST ON RECORD IN
WYOMING SINCE 1895 WITH A STATE AVERAGE OF 0.45 INCHES OF
PRECIPITATION. JUNE 2012 WAS ALSO THE 6TH WARMEST OVER THE LAST
118 YEARS IN WYOMING. THE WATER YEAR TO DATE...OCTOBER 2011
THROUGH JUNE 2012...RANKED AS THE 12TH DRIEST FOR WYOMING SINCE
1895...AND THE DRIEST SINCE 2002. THE FIRST HALF OF 2012...JANUARY
THROUGH JUNE...RANKED AS THE SECOND DRIEST OVER THE LAST 118
YEARS. THE DRIEST FIRST SIX MONTHS OF THE YEAR WAS IN 1919.
SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...
RIVER AND STREAMFLOW CONDITIONS.
28-DAY AVERAGE STREAMFLOW CONDITIONS ON AUGUST 1ST SHOWED MUCH
BELOW NORMAL OR BELOW NORMAL STREAMFLOWS AT MOST STATIONS IN AREAS
CLASSIFIED AS MODERATE DROUGHT /D1/ OR HIGHER. THE EXCEPTION WAS
IN THE UPPER AND LOWER GREEN RIVER BASINS WHERE NORMAL STREAMFLOW
CONDITIONS WERE OBSERVED. STREAMFLOWS WERE ALSO CLASSIFIED AS
NORMAL NORMAL IN THE NORTHWEST OR IN THE SNAKE RIVER BASIN...UPPER
YELLOWSTONE AND MADISON RIVER BASINS.
FIRE WEATHER IMPACTS...
FUELS WERE CLASSIFIED AS CRITICAL IN ALL AREAS ACROSS WEST AND
CENTRAL WYOMING. ON AUGUST 2ND...FIRE DANGER WAS CLASSIFIED AS
VERY HIGH TO EXTREME ACROSS MOST AREAS IN MODERATE DROUGHT /D1/ OR
HIGHER. FIRE DANGER WAS MODERATE TO HIGH ACROSS PORTIONS OF
NORTHWEST WYOMING WHICH WERE FREE OF DROUGHT OR ABNORMALLY DRY
/D0/. THE SEASONAL SIGNIFICANT WILDLAND FIRE POTENTIAL OUTLOOK
FOR AUGUST THROUGH OCTOBER 2012 SHOWED ABOVE NORMAL SIGNIFICANT
FIRE POTENTIAL PERSISTING ACROSS WEST AND CENTRAL WYOMING.
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COUNTY OFFICIALS FOR THE LATEST BURNING
RESTRICTIONS.
CLIMATE SUMMARY...
BELOW ARE THE CUMULATIVE PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS FROM SELECTED
LOCATIONS ACROSS WEST AND CENTRAL WYOMING FOR THE CURRENT WATER
YEAR...
LOCATION WATER YEAR PRECIPITATION % AVERAGE
TO DATE (OCT 2011-JULY 2012) (1981-2010)
-------- --------------------------- -----------
AIRPORTS
^ BIG PINEY 2.34 47
^ BUFFALO 9.15 81
* CASPER 9.32 81
* EVANSTON 2.98 31
* GREYBULL 4.40 71
^ LANDER 8.51 77
* RIVERTON 4.74 60
+ ROCK SPRINGS 4.89 70
^ SHERIDAN 12.32 103
* WORLAND 3.93 62
COOPERATIVE OBSERVER STATIONS
BEDFORD 3 SE 17.75 96
+ BITTER CREEK 4 NE 3.91 72
* FOSSIL BUTTE
NATIONAL MONUMENT 7.21 80
+ GREEN RIVER 5.82 86
MOOSE 15.65 82
OLD FAITHFUL 24.35 108
^ POWELL FIELD STATION 5.43 96
^ RIVERTON (DOWNTOWN) 4.82 72
* THERMOPOLIS 6.13 62
At Star Valley Ranch for the same period the precipitation was 19.58 and at the 7 south of Smoot
Observation site 18.19.
+ LOCATION IN EXTREME DROUGHT /D3/ * LOCATION IN SEVERE DROUGHT /D2/ ^ LOCATION IN MODERATE DROUGHT /D1/
PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOKS... THE OUTLOOK FOR AUGUST SHOWS A 50 PERCENT OR GREATER CHANCE OF ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS MOST OF WYOMING. THE AUGUST PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK SHOWS EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE...BELOW OR NORM AL PRECIPITATION...OR NO SIGNIFICANT CLIMATE SIGNAL ACROSS MOST OF THE STATE. THE SEASONAL OUTLOOK FOR AUGUST...SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER SHOWS A GREATER THAN EQUAL CHANCE FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST THIRD OF THE STATE...OR ROUGHLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF A ROCK SPRINGS TO CASPER LINE. EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE...BELOW OR NORMAL TEMPERATURES COVER THE REST OF THE STATE. THE 90 DAY PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK SHOWS EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE...BELOW OR NORMAL PRECIPITATION...OR NO SIGNIFICANT CLIMATE SIGNAL ACROSS WYOMING. THE U.S. SEASONAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK ISSUED ON AUGUST 2ND SHOWED THAT DROUGHT CONDITIONS WERE LIKELY TO PERSIST OR INTENSIFY THROUGH OCTOBER ACROSS ALL AREAS IN WYOMING THAT ARE CURRENTLY IN DROUGHT...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE FAR SOUTH WHERE SOME IMPROVEMENT IS FORECAST. DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE NOT CURRENTLY FORECAST TO DEVELOP IN NORTHWEST WYOMING. AN EL NINO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER. CHANCES HAVE INCREASED FOR EL NINO BEGINNING IN AUGUST- SEPTEMBER 2012 AND CONTINUING THROUGH THE WINTER OF 2012-13. ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS PREVAILED ACROSS THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC FROM MAY THROUGH JULY FOLLOWING THE DISSIPATION OF LA NINA IN APRIL. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... THE FOLLOWING RESERVOIR DATA WAS OBTAINED ON AUGUST 1ST... RESERVOIR PERCENT FULL CENTRAL WYOMING BOYSEN 77.3 BUFFALO BILL 93.2 BULL LAKE 97.1 PATHFINDER 54.1 UPPER GREEN RIVER BASIN BIG SANDY 50.0 FONTENELLE 95.0 FLAMING GORGE 82.0 UPPER SNAKE RIVER BASIN GRASSY LAKE 100.0 JACKSON LAKE 91.0 NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED ON AUGUST 15 2012 OR SOONER IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS. && RELATED WEB SITES... ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/... TO REPORT EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT IN YOUR AREA...PLEASE GO TO THE DROUGHT IMPACT REPORTER AT... HTTP://DROUGHTREPORTER.UNL.EDU/ ...AND CLICK ON SUBMIT A REPORT. INFORMATION FOR THE MEDIA MAY BE FOUND AT... HTTP://DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/NEWSOUTREACH/INFORMATIONFORMEDIA.ASPX NWS RIVERTON DROUGHT PAGE... HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/RIW/?N=DROUGHT USGS WYOMING DROUGHT WATCH... HTTP://WY.WATER.USGS.GOV/PROJECTS/DROUGHT/ U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.GOV NOAA DROUGHT PAGE...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.NOAA.GOV CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER /CPC/...HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV ADDITIONAL RIVER AND RESERVOIR INFORMATION... NWS ADVANCED HYDROLOGIC PREDICTION SERVICE /AHPS/... HTTP://WWW.WATER.GOV/AHPS2/INDEX.PHP?WFO=RIW USGS...HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV/ USBR...HTTP://WWW.USBR.GOV/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER...THE USDA...STATE AND REGIONAL CENTER CLIMATOLOGISTS AND THE NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION CENTER. INFORMATION FOR THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS AND FAA OBSERVATION SITES...STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES...THE USDA...USACE AND USGS. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT... ARTHUR MEUNIER CLIMATE/DROUGHT FOCAL POINT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 12744 WEST US HIGHWAY 26 RIVERTON, WY 82501 TELEPHONE...307-857-3898 ............800-211-1448 EMAIL...ARTHUR.MEUNIER@NOAA.GOV
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Wyoming Precipitation Information
Here is some interesting information on the precipitation in Wyoming.
A map of normals for the state dramtically show the effect of the terrain.
Some of the major cities of the state follow:
The Wyoming precipitation records are:
Greater amounts occur in the high mountains of Northwest Wyoming such as the Tetons, but official records are only included here.
A map of normals for the state dramtically show the effect of the terrain.
The Wyoming precipitation records are:
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