It’s always wildlife viewing season in Wyoming, and I hope you’ll be cautious and responsible while checking out our vast wildlife. You’d think that would be something that doesn’t need to be said, but it is.

Seeing wildlife is an exciting time, not just for tourons, but anytime you get to see animals in the wild, it’s awesome.

We hear stories all the time about people who get too close to bison, bear, elk, wolves, or moose. Many stories don’t have a good outcome and end in a visit to the emergency room.

Again, showing respect for the animals shouldn’t be said, but it has to be. Before embarking on your animal viewing adventure, you should think about the proper distance to stay away, the best viewing practices, and what tools to use to have the best chance of seeing the animals without disturbing them.

Here are a few tips for you to remember that will surely enhance your experience.

• Stay a safe distance away from the animals you’re looking at.
  • 100 yards from Grizzlies and wolves.
  • 25 yards from animals like deer, elk, bison, or moose.
  • 25 to 50 feet from birds or smaller animals.
• Recognize the signs of a threat from an animal.
  • Keep an eye open for grunts, growls, pawing at the ground, snorting, or if the animal seems disturbed by your presence.
• Carry personal safety items like bear spray, and know how to use them.
• Make noise. Let them know you’re there without causing the animals to panic, so they don’t get spooked.
• Do not feed the animals.
  • Keep your food secure and sealed in a bear-resistant container or cooler.
• Do your research and know the best times and areas to view certain animals.
• Stay on trails, in designated viewing areas, and do not remove items from nature.
• If you pack it in, pack it out. Leaving trash and food scattered is dangerous to the animals and others around you.
• Keep your head on a swivel.
  • Even though some animals are large and you think you can see them coming, they can be stealthy and be upon you in seconds.
• Know where you are at all times. You don’t want to wander off the trail and end up on someone else’s property or get lost and need help.
• If you’re not experienced in the area where you are, go with a guide or someone who is.

Have fun, be safe, take pictures, and respect the wildlife.

Identifying Wyoming’s Most Common Wildlife Droppings

Enjoy the unseasonably warm April weather while it lasts, because it’ll be gone by Thursday.

A slow-moving cold front will move across Wyoming between Wednesday night and Friday. When it does, temperatures will drop up to 50 degrees in some places, and the entire state will get some snow.

“At this time of year, you can see the pendulum swing from one direction to another very quickly,” said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day. “We’re going to see equal but opposite extremes in temperature on Thursday and Friday, and just about everyone’s going to see snow.”

Pendulum Swings

Day categorized the incoming cold front as “a true taste of winter” returning to Wyoming. That’s not uncommon in April, but the intense reversal will catch a lot of Wyomingites off guard.

“Last week, we had temperatures in the 70s and 80s,” he said. “This Friday, temperatures will be more than 50 degrees colder in places. I’m looking at 32 degrees in Cody, 28 degrees in Cheyenne and 25 degrees in Laramie. And those are the highs.”

Thursday night and Friday morning temperatures could be in the upper teens and lower 20s, and Day wouldn’t be surprised to see subzero temperatures in Yellowstone National Park.

However, Day wouldn’t categorize this as an extreme switch, especially during a historically volatile month like April. It’s just the luck of the draw in Wyoming.

“One thing about Wyoming is that we’re situated to be affected by air masses from much different source regions,” he said. “¥ou get air out of the deserts today and tomorrow, followed by air out of the Pacific Northwest on Thursday and Friday.

“Sometimes, those air masses switch in less than 24 hours. But the pendulum swinging is normal in April. People talk about what the normal highs and lows should be, but all normal are averages of the extremes.”

When It Snows, It Pours

Between Wednesday night and Friday, nearly all of Wyoming will see some precipitation, probably in the form of snow. However, there’s still some uncertainty about how much precipitation will fall and the proportion of wet snow to cold rain.

“The precipitation moving in with the front may start as rain in some places, or may be all snow in other places,” said meteorologist Celia Hensley with the National Weather Service office in Riverton. “The biggest question mark with this forecast is how intense will it be snowing.”

Hensley said there could be some snow accumulation depending on ground temperature. Snow is expected to start sticking on grassy surfaces, but it could get cold enough to form on roads and highways, especially overnight.

“With temperatures right around that freezing mark, the precipitation should mostly be snow,” she said. “However, given our recent warmth, the time of year, and sun angle, impacts to travel on roadways during the daylight hours should be minimal. Higher elevation areas like mountain passes, Wind River Canyon, and Casper Mountain will be impacted more than lower elevation areas.”

Between Wednesday and Thursday, the entire state of Wyoming could receive up to half an inch of precipitation, rain, or snow.

According to NWS Riverton, communities like Cody, Casper, Buffalo, and Riverton have an 80% to 95% chance of getting over an inch of new snow by Saturday. Lander, meanwhile, has an 85% chance of seeing over four inches of snow during the same period.

“We’re looking at anywhere from three-tenths of an inch of moisture on the low end,” Hensley said. “Some places, especially in the mountains, may see up to an inch of moisture.”

This is one of those cold fronts where a few hundred feet could make all the difference. Hensley said it will be entirely dependent on air and ground temperatures once the snow starts to fall.

“What could be rain or light, misty snow in downtown Riverton could be heavy snow at the NWS Riverton Office, 500 feet higher up,” she said. “A few hundred feet of elevation could make all the difference in snowfall and whether it’s accumulating on roads.”

Will It Be Enough?

Michael Natoli with the NWS Office in Cheyenne is anticipating the “abrupt end” of the warm weather Wyoming has been enjoying for the last two weeks. The cold front should bring its full brunt to southeast Wyoming by Thursday evening.

“We may see some rain showers right at the beginning, but we expect this to transition to snow pretty quickly,” he said. “Amounts are still uncertain, but there is a potential for some accumulating snow, even in the valleys.”

The big question is whether this weather system will be enough to alleviate the drought gripping the southeast corner of Wyoming. Natoli said every drop of moisture is welcome, but the monthly threshold has yet to be reached.

“We’re headed into our wettest time of the year, but just one of these storms is not enough to dent the drought,” he said. “In Cheyenne, the average liquid precipitation in April is close to two inches through the month. So far, we have received essentially nothing. Half an inch of precipitation from this storm is the most likely scenario right now, which is a good amount, but we have a ways to go to make up the long-term deficit.”

Meanwhile, daytime highs in southeast Wyoming will be in the 20s and 30s. There’s no escaping the impact of this winter weather system.

“It’s going to cool down pretty quickly,” Natoli said. “This is going to be a pretty cold storm.”

Morning Warning

The consensus among Wyoming meteorologists is that the incoming cold front will be a full-fledged winter weather system and should be treated as such. That means anyone traveling will want to anticipate what they’ll encounter, depending on their timing.

“I do think there’s going to be travel problems, especially during the night hours,” Day said. “When it’s that cold, the snow accumulates, and ice could accumulate.”

Daytime travel shouldn’t be much of an issue, thanks to the sun angle keeping things just warm and bright enough to melt accumulated ice and snow. According to Day, the biggest “headaches” will be the consistently problematic areas like South Pass, Powder River Pass, Teton Pass, Togwotee Pass, and the section of I-80 between Cheyenne and Rawlins.

“It can freeze and snow during the day, but the April sun is intense enough to get through the clouds,” he said. “The times to watch out for during these April snow events are nights and mornings when it’s dark, and things ice up quickly, and all these areas will be problems overnight on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.”

Get It While It’s Good

The slow-moving cold front will have moved on by the weekend, and temperatures are expected to moderate to seasonal normals. However, Day said this pattern will set a precedent for the rest of April.  

“Next week looks cold and unsettled, with more chances for rain and snow,” he said. “Temperatures over the weekend will still be chilly. It’s not going to stay as cold as it’ll get in Friday, but I expect it to be cooler and unsettled all the way through the end of April.”

According to Day, Wyoming wants it that way. Cooler temperatures will slow the melting of the state’s snowpack, moderating the amount of water flowing into the river basins, fields, and reservoirs.

“You don’t want it to be too warm in April,” he said. “Then people start freaking out about the runoff and the mountains accelerating too quickly. You want it more metered and spread out, and this system will slow down the melt in the high country significantly.”

There could be another pendulum swing into the 80s before the end of April, but Day doesn’t think it’s likely. That leaves him with a simple message of calm before the storm.

“Enjoy the next two days,” he said, “because it’s going to be a bit before it gets this nice again.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.

The judiciary holds too much power and Congress should curb its authority, Wyoming’s federal delegation argued in response to Equality State lawyers and retired judges who called on them to defend “American Rule of Law” from attacks by President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk.

In an April 11 letter, Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis said the federal judiciary has drawn scrutiny on itself. “Unelected judges imposing their policy biases on our nation without democratic legitimacy are the root cause of today’s controversy,” they wrote. 

The politicians largely sidestepped the central tenet of an open letter signed by more than 100 Wyoming lawyers and retired judges and published late last month. That letter had called on Hageman, Barrasso and Lummis to condemn an increase in personal attacks and calls for impeachment led by the president and his allies on federal judges who issue court decisions they dislike.

The Wyoming jurists who signed that missive focused on Trump’s calls to impeach specific judges who ruled against his policies, and social media posts by Musk calling a judge’s ruling an “attempted coup,” among other criticisms. 

The letter also cited threats of violence against judges, a phenomenon U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has said is on the rise. It also noted Trump’s efforts to target law firms he doesn’t like. “These attacks are part of a growing effort to discredit, not just judges, but seemingly the American Rule of Law,” the letter stated. 

The delegation’s response does not mention the president, Musk or threats of violence against judges. 

Instead, Barrasso, Lummis and Hageman wrote that “the country is witnessing a healthy debate right now about the appropriate role of judges,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by WyoFile. The federal lawmakers also cited legislation they were cosponsoring to eliminate judges’ authority to issue nationwide injunctions on actions by the federal government. 

“I think the delegation sort of missed the point,” former Wyoming governor and longtime attorney Mike Sullivan told WyoFile on Monday. “This was not a partisan effort. This is a legitimate, serious and what I think is a constitutional concern about the judiciary and the rule of law.”

Last week, House Republicans including Hageman passed the No Rogue Rulings Act, which would curb judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions. Republican lawmakers did so in response to a series of court rulings against aspects of Trump’s agenda — particularly elements of his mass deportation effort that judges found could violate peoples’ civil rights, and parts of the Musk-driven effort to cut budgets and staffing levels across the federal government. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has introduced a similar measure in the Senate.

“Both the legislative and the executive branches are rightfully using their constitutional checks and balances to address judicial overreach,” Hageman, Barrasso and Lummis wrote in their letter.

In their letter, the Wyoming jurists told Lummis, Barrasso and Hageman the U.S. Constitution called on them to defend the judiciary from attacks, even if those attacks come from other branches of government. 

“As our elected federal representatives—and as required by your own oaths—we thus urge you to publicly condemn these threats, affirm judicial independence, and remind Americans that appeals—not violence, intimidation, or invitations to lawlessness—are the constitutional remedy for undesired court decisions,” the letter read. 

Though the delegation in its letter described a bipartisan drive for judicial reform, the No Rogue Rulings Act did not draw any support from Democrats in the House and will likely die in the Senate, where it won’t be able to garner 60 votes, according to a report in Politico.

Lummis, Barrasso and Hageman expressed pique at the letter authors’ choice of an open letter. Among the letter’s more noted signees were former Gov. Mike Sullivan; retired Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justices Marilyn Kite, Michael Golden, Michael Davis and E. James Burke; retired U.S. District Court Chief Judge William Downes and former Wyoming Attorneys General Gay Woodhouse and Patrick Crank. 

(WyoFile board member Susan Stubson also signed on. She was not involved in the production of this report, and neither she nor any member of the WyoFile board have authority to direct news coverage or news content.)

Many of those attorneys are retired from public office and working in private practice, if not retired entirely. The jurists appear to have sought a public discussion, concluding their letter with: “We welcome your earliest public response to these very serious concerns.”

But the federal delegates said the more than 100 signees should have reached out as individuals.

“We are disappointed you failed to express your concerns with us directly before rushing to publish your letter,” they wrote. “A robust discussion about addressing the challenges and concerns facing our nation would be more beneficial than attempting to score political points through the press.” 

WyoFile reached out to signees of the original letter but did not receive a comment on the delegation’s response by early Monday afternoon. This story will be updated if that changes. 

Sullivan noted that the Wyoming attorneys published their letter in the wake of a highly unusual statement by Chief Justice Roberts, who protested Trump’s call for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg. Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment after the judge issued a ruling momentarily halting one of Trump’s most controversial deportation policies. Judges are not politicians, Sullivan said, “and when they come down in a way that doesn’t agree with your position they shouldn’t be demeaned or defamed or threatened with impeachment.”

Those signing the letter have an obligation to maintain judicial independence, as does the delegation, the former governor said.

“This is a group that believes this ought to be a public discussion,” Sullivan said. “We have our own constitutional obligations as members of the bar, practicing before the judiciary, and we shouldn’t just sit back and let this happen.