A strong low pressure system over South Dakota generated a tight pressure gradient across northeast Wyoming. The result was strong northwest wind across northeast Johnson County during the late evening of Wednesday, November 5 and the morning of Thursday, November 6.
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The episode as NWS RIW wrote it up.
A strong low pressure system over South Dakota generated a tight pressure gradient across northeast Wyoming. The result was strong northwest wind across northeast Johnson County during the late evening of Wednesday, November 5 and the morning of Thursday, November 6. Sustained wind of over 40 mph was recorded for over 14 hours at a state Department of Transportation weather station north of Buffalo along Interstate 90. This same station observed a peak wind gust of 66 mph around 2320MST on November 5. The ASOS at Johnson County Airport in Buffalo notched a peak gust of 67 mph at 2127MST on November 5. Hourly peak gusts of 58 to 67 mph were recorded at the airport for six of eight hours during the overnight period.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Riverton, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 5, 3:18 PM MST, 5 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY 318 PM MST WED NOV 5 2008 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY TROUGH JUST EAST OF THE ROCKIES NOW WITH STRONG SHORTWAVE TRAVERSING COLORADO SHOWING SIGNS OF INTENSIFICATION. NORTHWEST FLOW OVER WYOMING WITH INSTABILITY CLOUDS STREAMING ACROSS THE STATE...WITH EMBEDDED SNOW AND RAIN SHOWERS...MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 993MB SURFACE LOW OVER CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA WITH STRONG GRADIENT STRETCHING WELL BACK INTO WYOMING. VERY WINDY NORTHWEST WINDS OVER JOHNSON COUNTY...BIG HORN BASIN...UPPER GREEN AND SWEETWATER COUNTY. SURFACE TROUGH EXTENDING INTO NATRONA AND FREMONT COUNTIES...KEEPING THE WINDS DOWN HERE AS THE DIRECTION IS MORE NORTH TO NORTHEAST. THESE WINDS TO VERY SLOWLY DIMINISH TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...BUT WILL STILL REMAIN BREEZY TO WINDY. THIS AS THE COLORADO SHORTWAVE SPINS UP OVER NEBRASKA DURING THIS TIME FRAME. BEST CHANCE FOR POPS OVERNIGHT WILL BE OVER JOHNSON COUNTY AS THE WRAP AROUND CLOUDS REACH IN OVER NE WYO...THOUGH NOT EXPECTING MUCH IF ANY SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION. WILL SEE CLOUDS DISSIPATING OVER THE WEST AND CENTRAL OVERNIGHT...LINGERING OVER THE MOUNTAINS. DRIER AIR MOVES IN THURSDAY UNDER NORTH TO NORTHWEST FLOW. THIS WILL BRING LESS CLOUDS TO THE AREA AS WELL AS LESS CHANCE FOR SHOWERS. TEMPERATURES REMAIN 5 OR SO DEGREES BELOW NORMAL THURSDAY. RIDGE BUILDS IN THURSDAY NIGHT WITH WARM AIR ADVECTION MOVING IN. WILL HAVE MOISTURE SPILLING OVER THE RIDGE INTO THE WEST AND NORTH BY DAYTIME FRIDAY. WARM ADVECTION TYPE PRECIP POSSIBLE IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS...INCLUDING THE BIGHORNS. SOME SHORTWAVE ENERGY DIGS SOUTHEAST OVER THE NORTHEAST FRIDAY NIGHT...BRINGING A BETTER CHANCE FOR POPS IN JOHNSON COUNTY. ON SATURDAY...RIDGE AXIS SHIFTS WEST INTO WESTERN WYOMING...WITH DRIER AIR MOVING IN. LEE TROUGH DEVELOPS FRIDAY WITH THE APPROACHING RIDGE...SO WINDS WILL BEGIN TO INCREASE OVER THE TYPICAL SPOTS. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES EXIST TONIGHT BETWEEN THE GFS AND THE EURO THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD...BUT ESPECIALLY WITH THE FIRST TROUGH LATE IN THE WEEKEND. THE ECMWF IS STILL CUTTING THE SYSTEM OFF OVER THE DESERT SW SUNDAY WHILE THE GFS BRINGS AN ACTIVE SHORTWAVE THROUGH THE NRN ROCKIES. THE SYSTEM THE MODELS ARE PICKING UP ON IS JUST WEST OF THE DATELINE NEAR KAMCHATKA WITH SATELLITE SHOWING PLENTY OF COLD AIR. THE NEXT SYSTEM FOR NEXT TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY IS CURRENTLY TRACKING ACROSS ERN ASIA. FORECAST IS A COMPROMISE RIGHT NOW WITH HIGH POPS IN WEST AND MAINLY SLIGHT CHANCES IN THE EAST. IF THE GFS IS JOINED BY THE EURO TOMORROW IN A MORE NRN SOLUTION...WE WILL START HITTING CENTRAL WYO WITH HIGHER POPS. PLENTY OF TIMING ISSUES ALSO EXIST WITH ACTIVE PATTERN THAT CONTINUES THROUGH THE EXTENDED. THE GFS IS SHOWING THE FIRST SYSTEM LINGERING INTO MONDAY AS ANOTHER SHORTWAVE DROPS INTO THE FAVORABLE NW FLOW WHILE THE ECMWF SHOWS ANOTHER WAVE APPROACHING FROM THE WEST ON MONDAY. THE NEXT POTENTIALLY MORE SIGNIFICANT WAVE AS EARLY AS TUESDAY NIGHT ON THE GFS AND LATER WEDNESDAY ON THE EURO. FORECAST GENERALLY SHOWS INCREASING POPS OUT WEST WITH SLIGHT CHANCES EAST OF THE DIVIDE. WILL CONTINUE TRENDING THESE UP TOMORROW NIGHT AS TIMING AND EVOLUTION BECOME MORE APPARENT. TEMPS WILL BE QUITE CHALLENGING BASED ON THE HUGE MODEL DIFFERENCES THAT DO EXIST. GENERALLY TRENDED TEMPS DOWNWARD AFTER SUNDAYS SYSTEM BUT NOT QUITE AS COLD AS THE GFS YET. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL WYOMING TONIGHT. ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED WITH MVFR CONDITIONS AT TIMES OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS THROUGH TONIGHT. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS AND THE ASSOCIATED MVFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED IN THE BIG HORN MOUNTAINS THIS EVENING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. ISOLATED IFR CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE HEAVIER SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE BIG HORN MOUNTAINS TONIGHT...CONTINUING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. MANY AREAS WILL BE WINDY THROUGH APPROXIMATELY 08Z THURSDAY WITH SPEEDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH AND GUSTS AS HIGH AS 40 MPH OUT OF THE NORTHWEST TO WEST. && .FIRE WEATHER... WINDY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE MOST AREAS TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. SOME SNOW SHOWERS ARE ALSO EXPECTED...THOUGH ANY ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LOCALIZED. DRIER AIR MOVES IN THURSDAY WITH RHS DIPPING INTO THE UPPER 20S TO 30S MOST LEE SLOPES AND LOW ELEVATIONS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN THURSDAY NIGHT WITH MOISTURE INCREASING ONCE AGAIN...ESPECIALLY IN THE WEST AND NORTH. A FEW SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTH FRIDAY...MAINLY IN THE MOUNTAINS. WINDS WILL PICK UP IN THE MOUNTAINS...AS WELL AS BETWEEN SWEETWATER AND NATRONA COUNTIES. RHS WILL BE A BIT HIGHER FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WITH THE INCREASED MOISTURE...AND TEMPERATURES WILL BE 5 TO 10 DEGREES WARMER. && .RIW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...TWB LONG TERM...SKRBAC AVIATION...CHURCH FIRE WEATHER...TWB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY 506 AM MST WED NOV 5 2008 WYZ001>020-022>030-061200- ABSAROKA MOUNTAINS-BIGHORN MOUNTAINS SOUTHEAST- BIGHORN MOUNTAINS WEST-CASPER MOUNTAIN-CODY FOOTHILLS- EAST SWEETWATER COUNTY-FLAMING GORGE- GREEN MOUNTAINS AND RATTLESNAKE RANGE-JACKSON HOLE-LANDER FOOTHILLS- NATRONA COUNTY LOWER ELEVATIONS-NORTH BIG HORN BASIN- NORTHEAST JOHNSON COUNTY-OWL CREEK AND BRIDGER MOUNTAINS- ROCK SPRINGS AND GREEN RIVER-SALT RIVER AND WYOMING RANGES- SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-SOUTHEAST BIG HORN BASIN- SOUTHEAST JOHNSON COUNTY-SOUTHWEST BIG HORN BASIN-STAR VALLEY- TETON AND GROS VENTRE MOUNTAINS-UPPER GREEN RIVER BASIN- UPPER GREEN RIVER BASIN FOOTHILLS-UPPER WIND RIVER BASIN- WIND RIVER BASIN-WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS EAST-WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS WEST- YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK- 506 AM MST WED NOV 5 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOWFALL WILL CONTINUE ACROSS WESTERN WYOMING THIS MORNING. THESE CONDITIONS WILL LEAVE SNOW PACKED ROADS OVER THE JACKSON VALLEY AND THE WESTERN MOUNTAIN PASSES. MOTORISTS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO CHECK ROAD CONDITIONS THIS MORNING. ADDITIONALLY...STRONG WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER JOHNSON COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON CREATING HAZARDOUS CROSS WINDS ON INTERSTATE 90 AS WELL AS REDUCED VISIBILITIES DUE TO BLOWING SNOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SNOW AMOUNTS. THANK YOU. TEAM RIVERTON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, November 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 134500.