Blizzard — Southwest Carbon County, Wyoming

2017-02-23 · Southwest Carbon County, Wyoming

Event narrative

The combination of heavy snowfall and northwest winds gusting to 40 mph created blizzard conditions. Visibilities at Baggs and Dixon were less than a quarter mile for several hours.

Wider weather episode

An intense Pacific low pressure system produced heavy snowfall and strong winds up to 50 mph across east central, south central and southeast Wyoming. The strong winds caused blizzard conditions over western Carbon County in south central Wyoming. A narrow swath of 20 to 25 inches of snow fell from Wheatland to Torrington in southeast Wyoming. Elsewhere, snow accumulations ranged from 3 to 10 inches, with 10 to 20 inches over the mountains. This storm resulted in major impacts to transportation, resulting in numerous road and interstate highway closures.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 687654. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.