Wyoming
Wacky Wyoming Weather: 4-Foot Snowdrifts On Beartooth Highway, 80 In…
The Beartooth Highway closed earlier this week in anticipation of a snowstorm at the summit, and it’s a good thing it did.
Between Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning, about 5 inches of snow fell along the 68-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 212, blowing into snowdrifts as high as 4 feet in some places. Snowplows have been busy clearing the highway in anticipation of reopening the seasonal highway Thursday afternoon.
Wyoming has entered the last days of the summer season, which officially ends at 6:43 a.m. on Sunday — at least going by the calendar. Snow at this time of year at the highest points of the Cowboy State isn’t a sign of an early winter, but it definitely is a reminder that the seasons are changing quickly.
“It always feels earlier than it should be, but getting snow in the mountains in September is definitely nothing unusual,” said meteorologist Mike Natoli with the National Weather Service Office in Riverton. “If we were seeing the snow in the lower elevations, that would be a little unusual, but that’s not what we expect this month.
Everything’s Seasonal
Despite the Beartooth blizzard, September temperatures across Wyoming have been “seasonal.” High temperatures are still in the 70s and occasionally higher.
“We are forecasting a high of 80 in Cheyenne on Friday,” Natoli said. “We’re still pretty warm, at least for the next two days.”
Natoli said a cold front will move across southern Wyoming over the weekend, dropping daytime temperatures as much as 20 degrees. That could mean snowfall in the Snowy Range and anywhere above 9,000 feet.
“We might see some snow mixing in Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning,” he said. “This will pretty much just be rain at the lower elevations, but those higher elevations will likely see some flakes flying this weekend. If you’ve got hiking plans on Sunday morning, plan for a few icy spots.”
The cold front will primarily impact Colorado and southeast Wyoming. The rest of the Cowboy State will be largely unaffected.
Meteorologist Taylor Wittmann with the NWS Riverton office said the forecast for the rest of Wyoming looks “pretty seasonal” through the weekend and into the first week of fall. In fact, it’s likely to warm up again.
“Through this weekend and the start of next week, we’ll be a little on the cool side, in the 60s to low 70s,” he said. “Starting in the middle of next week, we could increase temperature, maybe into the upper 70s. That’d be a touch warmer than normal, but it’s still looking mostly seasonal.”
Dry Too
The first week of fall might be trending warmer, but it’s also trending drier. If the weekend cold front across southern Wyoming brings any precipitation below 9,000 feet, Natoli doesn’t think it’ll be widespread.
“Most of Wyoming is probably not going to see a lot of rain from the weekend storm system,” he said. “Unfortunately for the regions that need rain the most, like northeast Wyoming, it doesn’t look like it’ll get it this time. The southeastern part of the state has a good chance of seeing rain showers on Monday and Tuesday.”
Wittmann said another system should move into northwestern Wyoming on Monday, bringing another dusting of snow, no more than half an inch, to the Beartooth Highway. Otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be any significant snow or rain in the forecast.
“We’re not seeing anything big come through in the next five or six days,” he said. “We could see some isolated showers in some parts of the state, but we’re not looking at anything widespread. It looks pretty tame for the next week.”
The 80s Are Over?
For most of Wyoming, it already feels like the end of summer. The searing summer heat and triple-digit days are long gone, but there could still be a few spikes before fall fully settles in.
“Cheyenne’s average high is about 80 degrees on Sept. 1,” Natoli said. “By Oct. 1, our average highs are down to about 65 degrees. We lose quite a bit from our averages, so 80-degree days are now 10 to 15 degrees warmer than normal at the end of September. It’s a little hard to get there, but not unprecedented.”
Wittmann wouldn’t be surprised if the warmer regions of Wyoming, like Johnson County and the Bighorn Basin, could still see 80-degree days at the end of September.
“It does depend on where you are. Our warmer places could see some 80-degree days towards the end of this month, but other areas might be done with their 80s for the year.”
First Flurries
Wyoming’s getting ready for the colder months ahead. Several areas in Teton and Sublette counties have already reported their first frosts, and the cold fronts spreading snow across the Beartooths will eventually get strong enough to bring snow low.
Based on current climate and historical analysis, Natoli believes southwest Wyoming has another two to three weeks before the first snow. Cheyenne typically sees its first snow around Oct. 5.
“The earliest snowfall on record in Cheyenne was Sept. 8, which occurred a few years ago in 2020,” he said. “But in 2022, we didn’t get the first snowfall until November. It can come earlier or later, but we’re about three weeks out from our average.”
The first week of fall looks warmer and drier than average for most of Wyoming, with any snowfall still confined to the highest points of the mountains. That’s good news for anyone planning a trek over the Beartooth Highway.
The National Park Service and the Montana Department of Transportation are trying to keep the Beartooth Highway open until mid-October, weather permitting. Based on Wyoming’s short-term forecast, the weather looks permitting.
Wittmann doesn’t see enough additional snow in the forecast to prompt another temporary closure.
“We don’t control road closures and openings, but looking at the forecast, it doesn’t look like they will be getting any significant snow here in the next week,” he said. “It looks pretty tame up there and across most of Wyoming.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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