Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Wind River Mountains East, Wyoming

2022-12-21 to 2022-12-22 · Wind River Mountains East, Wyoming

Event narrative

Wind chill temperatures fell as low as 48 below near in Sinks Canyon State Park with air temperatures as low as minus 29. Strong wind occurred following the Arctic Front passage with wind gusts as high as 86 mph at Red Canyon along South Pass. The wind plus accompanying wind brought very difficult travel conditions including the closure of Wyoming State Route 28 over South Pass.

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 1072216. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.