Friday, April 19, 2013

Updated Summary of Snow and Cold April 16-18 2013 across western and central Wyoming























A winter storm moved through early this week with impacts from the storm felt from Monday through Thursday. Several feet of snow accumulated on Casper Mountain and in the Wind River Mountains with over a foot of snow again in Casper and the Lander Foothills.

The wintry storm also resulted in many locations breaking new daily record low maximum temperatures, and record low temperatures over the last few days.


Labs "snorkeling" in the snow at Sinks Canyon in the Wind River Range.

Photo by Art Meunier
Hogadon ski lift on Casper Mountain had only the very top of the chair lift sticking out of the fresh 5 feet of snow!

Photo by Eric Aune
Travel was severely impacted during the storm. Portions of I25, I80, US 287, US 220, WY 251 were shut down for several hours.

Photo by Loresa Brinkerhoff



Benefits to the Snow Pack:




Click Image to Enlarge
This storm has done wonders for our snow pack. The long range models are indicating that another storm is possible early next week.
Click Image to Enlarge
The amount of water contained in this snow is rocketing toward normal for this time of year.

So, what is going on? Casper gets several feet of snow yet the snow pack is still well below normal? Yup. Hard to believe but the amount of water contained in the snow pack is still well below normal and even below where it was last year! However, the amount of water in the lower elevations has worked to move Natrona and Fremont counties out of "Extreme" drought into "Severe" drought. Casper's climate site is reporting over an inch above normal, Lander has exceeded their normal snow amount by over a foot now so the low elevations are doing well. We just need the mountains to store up some water for the summer...

Click Image to Enlarge
The above graph shows the snow water equivalent contained within the snowpack this year (in blue) compared to last year (green), both compared to normal (purple) on Casper Mountain. So, even though nearly seven FEET of snow has fallen in the past two weeks, there is still less water in that snow than there was at this time last year, and there is much less (about 5" of water) than normal.
 Click Image to Enlarge
The map above shows that Fremont and Natrona counties have improved from "Extreme" drought to "Severe" drought due to the recent snow storms. We still have a way to go to get us out of drought completely.



Storm Total Snowfall:

Click here to see a map of the snowfall totals. To see a zoomed-in map of your county of interest, click on the name of your county in the table below (there is also a zoomed-in map for the Casper area).

Here are the latest snowfall totals across west and central Wyoming through 8 AM Thursday:

 
Storm Total Snowfall Reports
County Station Name Snowfall
Big Horn Bone Springs Divide Snotel 3
  Bald Mountain Snotel 3
  Shell Creek Snotel 2
  Shell 0.5
Fremont 3 SW Lander 26.7
  6 SW Lander 20.3
  5 WSW Lander 20.2
  9.5 SW Lander 19
  St. Lawrence Alt Snotel 18
  Townsend Creek Snotel 17
  9 SSE Lander 16
  4 SSW Lander 15
  1 W Lander 13.3
  South Pass Snotel 12
  4 WSW Lander 11.5
  Little Warm Snotel 11
  2 W Riverton 10.5
  Lander Airport 10.4
  1 WSW Lander 10.3
  2 N Lander 9
  Riverton 8.3
  Lander 8
  Hudson 8
  Hobbs Park Snotel 8
  7 SW Lander 8
  Jeffrey City 7
  6 SE Lander 6.5
  Riverton 6
  Deer Park Snotel 6
  Riverton ASOS 4.3
  Dubois 4
  Fort Washakie 4
  Brooks Lake Lodge 3
  Burris 0.6
Hot Springs Owl Creek Snotel 6
  Thermopolis 1
  1 SW Thermopolis 0.9
Johnson Cloud Peak Reservoir Snotel 8
  Soldier Park Snotel 8
  Hansen Sawmill Snotel 7
  Little Goose Snotel 6
  17 NNW Kaycee 6
  20 S Buffalo 4.8
  4 SSW Buffalo 4.5
  Buffalo 3
  Buffalo 3
  Billy Creek 2.3
  17 E Kaycee 2
Lincoln Willow Creek Snotel 12
  Commissary Ridge 12
  Indian Creek Snotel 10
  Hams Fork Snotel 10
  Blind Bull Summit 6
  2 SE Thayne 5.7
  5 NNE Thayne 5.5
  Cottonwood Creek Snotel 5
  Spring Creek Divide Snotel 5
  Box Y Ranch 5
  Kemmerer 5
  Blind Bull Summit Snotel 5
  Salt River Summit Snotel 4
  5 SSE Smoot 4
  5 NNE Thayne 4
  Kelley Ranger Station Snotel 3
  3 SE Bedford 3
  Afton 2.4
  Fossil Butte 1.5
Natrona Casper Mountain 34-56
  Reno Hill Snotel 29
  South Casper 17-24
  Casper 11-16
  Mills 12
  Bessemer Bend 10
  Powder River School 6
  Midwest 3.1
Park Meeteetse 3
  3 NE Sunshine 2.3
  Cody Area
0.5-1
Sublette East Rim Divide Snotel 9
  Snider Basin Snotel 7
  Triple Peak Snotel 7
  14 NW Pinedale 5.9
  Loomis Park Snotel 5
  Gunsite Pass Snotel 5
  Kendall Ranger Station Snotel 5
  Daniel Fish Hatchery 5
  Merna 5
  13 SE Pinedale 4.5
  Larsen Creek Snotel 4
  Elkhart Park G.S. Snotel 3
  New Fork Lake Snotel 2
  Big Sandy Opening Snotel 2
  Marbleton 2
  Pocket Creek Snotel 2
Sweetwater Green River 4
  Buckboard Marina 1
  1 W Rock Springs 0.8
Teton Snake River Stn Snotel 7
  Togwotee Pass Snotel 6
  Jackson Hole-Rendezvous Bowl 4
  Grand Targhee Snotel 4
  Grand Targhee-Chief Joseph 3
  Gros Ventre Summit Snotel 3
  Jackson Hole-Raymer 3
  3 SSW Wilson 3
  Granite Creek Snotel 3
  Phillips Bench Snotel 3
  Base Camp Snotel 3
  Snow King Ski Area 2
  Moose 1.5
  4 SSW Jackson 1.4
  5 NW Jackson 1.3
  Grassy Lake Snotel 1
  Togwotee Mountain Lodge 1
  Jackson Hole-Mid 1
  Jackson Hole-Base 1
  2 NE Teton Village 1
  Jackson 0.2
Washakie 16 SSE Ten Sleep 4
  Middle Powder Snotel 3
  5 NNW Ten Sleep 1.5
  27 S Ten Sleep 1.2
Yellowstone Two Ocean Plateau Snotel 3
  Old Faithful Ranger Station 1




  Record Cold:


Record Low Maximum Temperatures April 15-17, 2013
Location Date Record Low Maximum
Temperature °F
Previous Record °F Period of Record
Casper Airport 16 23 31 in 1940 1939-2013
  17 22* 28 in 1968  
         
Lander Airport 15 31 (tie) 31 in 1927 1891-2013
  16 27 28 in 1896  
         
Downtown Riverton 15 35 27 in 1924 1907-2013
  16 29 34 in 1920  
  17 30 31 in 1968  
         
Rock Springs Airport 15 34 35 in 1952 1948-2013
  16 27 32 in 2009, 1963  
  17 27 31 in 2009,1986  
         
Worland Airport 15 38 (tie) 38 in 1970 1960-2013
  16 33 43 in 2009  
         

 *The 22 degree reading in Casper was the coldest high temperature ever recorded for so late in the season!
 
Record Low Temperatures April 15 - 18, 2013
 Location
 Date  New Record Low
in °F
 Previous Record
in °F
 Period of Record
 Riverton Airport
16 20  22 in 1999  1995 - 2013
  17 16 19 in 1999  
  18  13  21 in 1998  
         
 Lake Yellowstone  17  -3  9 in 2008  1998 - 2013
   18  -10  5 in 2006  
         
 Rock Springs Airport  17  15  18 in 2008  1948 - 2013
   18  12 (tie)  12 in 1966  
         
 Buffalo Airport  17  16  21 in 1999  1998 - 2013
   18  10  23 in 2002  
         
 Worland Airport 18 17 22 in 1968 1947 - 2013
         
 Big Piney Airport 18 2 11 in 1983 1976 - 2013
         
 Greybull Airport 18 14 28 in 2008 1998 - 2013
         
 Casper Airport 18 4 13 in 1996 1939-2013
     

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