Winter Storm in Bighorn Mountains Southeast, Wyoming

Heavy snow fell across the eastern Bighorn Range. The maximum was 20 inches at the Little Goose SNOTEL.

A cold front dropping south from Canada ushered into Wyoming some unusually cold air. This combined with deep moisture and favorable upper level dynamics to produce a heavy early season snow across portions of northern Wyoming. Johnson County was the hardest hit with up to 20 inches of snow in the higher elevations of the Bighorn Range. In the lower elevations, 7 to 10 inches of snow fell in Buffalo where the heavy, wet snow fell on trees that still had full leaf coverage. Broken tree limbs fell on power lines, which caused scattered power outages. Heavy snow also fell in the northwest portion of the Bighorn Range, with 16 inches recorded at the Shell Creek SNOTEL site. Lesser amounts of 6 to 8 inches were widespread in the eastern Absaroka Range. The early snow had impacts on ranchers who still had livestock in the higher elevations and on hunters.