Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — North Big Horn Basin, Wyoming

2022-12-21 · North Big Horn Basin, Wyoming

Event narrative

Dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills occurred in the Northern Big Horn Basin. The coldest wind chill temperatures recorded were minus 58 at the Powell Airport and minus 55 at the Greybull airport. The towns of Cowley, Basin and Greybull saw low temperatures fall to 35 below zero. A period of snow with winds as high as 64 mph accompanied the passage of the Arctic Front bringing nearly impossible travel conditions.

Wider weather episode

A powerful arctic front dropped southward across Wyoming and brought a period of snow and bitterly cold temperatures to much of western and central Wyoming. Ahead of the front, heavy snow fell in portions of western Wyoming with as much as 16 inches of new snow at Jackson Hole Ski Resort. A powerful jet stream approaching 200 knots also accompanied the cold front, bringing snow squalls to much of central Wyoming along with very strong winds. Winds in the higher elevations of the mountains gusted in excess of 80 mph, with an 86 mph gust at Red Canyon. In the lower elevations, Rock Springs had a maximum wind gust of 75 mph with gusts past 55 mph in most counties. The combination of strong wind and snow brought near zero visibility at times, resulting in closure of many major roads, including Interstate 80. This was followed by some of the coldest air in many years in areas East of the Divide. Both the Casper and Riverton airports recorded their all time record lows, with minus 42 F and minus 31 F respectively. Almost all counties recorded temperatures under 20 below zero with many seeing lows under 40 below zero. Wind chills dropped to 30 below to 50 below zero for most areas. The extreme cold resulted in school closures and travel difficulties. Note that all entries give temperature values in degrees F.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1072205. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.