A tight surface pressure gradient and increasing winds aloft produced some isolated areas of strong winds.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS CYS wrote it up.
A tight surface pressure gradient and increasing winds aloft produced some isolated areas of strong winds.
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 Cheyenne, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 2, 1:39 PM MST, 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY 139 PM MST WED MAR 2 2011 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. TONIGHT...NEXT SHORTWAVE TROUGH ALOFT MOVES ACROSS WESTERN WYOMING. NAM LOOKS TOO SLOW AND TOO FAR WEST WITH PRECIPITATION ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORTWAVE...GFS PREFERRED. THUS WILL SPREAD SNOW CHANCES ACROSS CARBON COUNTY...THE SNOWY/SIERRA MADRE RANGES. DRY ELSEWHERE. RELATIVELY MILD DUE TO AIRMASS AND MIXING EAST OF THE LARAMIE RANGE. THURSDAY...BULK OF THE HEAVIER SNOW...ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORTWAVE...WILL MOVE ACROSS COLORADO...THOUGH SNOW WILL BE WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE SNOWY/SIERRA MADRE RANGES WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON RAIN ACROSS FAR SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND FAR SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA ASSOCIATED WITH THE PASSING COLD FRONT AND BAROCLINIC BAND. WITH THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE OF THE SHORTWAVE...SNOWFALL AMOUNTS LIKELY BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. CONTINUED MILD AHEAD OF THE AFTERNOON COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE. THURSDAY NIGHT... CHANCE OF SNOW CONTINUES OVER THE SNOWY/SIERRA MADRE RANGES IN MOIST WEST FLOW ALOFT AHEAD OF A LOW AMPLITUDE SHORTWAVE TROUGH ALOFT. ASIDE FROM A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW NORTH OF A DOUGLAS TO CHADRON LINE...DRY ELSEWHERE. FRIDAY...PROGRESSIVE AND POSITIVELY TILTED SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES ACROSS WYOMING. ON TAP...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SNOW SHOWERS AND A FEW RAIN SHOWERS MIXED IN EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS FOCUSED ALONG AN INVERTED SURFACE TROUGH AXIS. SHORTWAVE TROUGH ALOFT HAS LOWER AMPLITUDE NOW THAN THURSDAY MODEL RUNS INDICATED. NOT AS MILD WITH CLOUD COVER AND BEHIND THE COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE. FRIDAY NIGHT...DRYING OUT PERIOD IN THE WAKE OF THE PASSING SHORTWAVE TROUGH ALOFT AS SHORTWAVE RIDGING DEVELOPS. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NICE DAY ON TAP FOR SATURDAY AS UPPER RIDGE LOOKS TO BE IN PLACE WITH SURFACE HIGH OVER NORTHERN COLORADO. AFTERNOON HIGHS LOOK TO BE PRETTY NICE WITH UPPER 40S AND LOW 50S EAST OF THE LARAMIE RANGE...MID 30S EAST. CONDITIONS CHANGE SUNDAY AS UPPER LOW CURRENTLY OFF THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA OPENS UP AND MOVES INLAND NEAR OREGON SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING. GFS SHOWING CYCLOGENESIS DEVELOPING OVER EASTERN WYOMING SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. STILL SOME SIGNIFICANT MODEL DIFFERENCES SEEN BETWEEN THE GFS AND ECMWF. GFS HAS LOW FURTHER SOUTH...TRACKING ACROSS NORTHERN COLORADO WHERE THE ECMWF HAS AN OPEN WAVE TRACKING ACROSS WYOMING. BOTH SHOW SIGNIFICANT QPF WITH BOTH SCENARIOS OVER SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND NEBRASKA PANHANDLE. SHOULD THE ECMWF SOLUTION HOLD TRUE...POSSIBILITY IS THERE FOR A LOT OF THIS PRECIP TO FALL AS RAIN. GFS MUCH COLDER AND PRECIP SHOULD FALL MAINLY AS SNOW. LOW REALLY DEVELOPS JUST EAST OF WYOMING. DEPENDING ON WHICH MODEL YOU LOOK AT...THE GFS HAS THIS CYCLOGENESIS OVER CENTRAL NEBRASKA...ECMWF OVER NORTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA. WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR A LITTLE MORE RUN TO RUN CONSENSUS IN MODEL SOLUTIONS BEFORE RAISING THE ALARM THOUGH. WILL CONTINUE CURRENT WORDING IN THE HWO FOR POSSIBLE SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATING SNOWS MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. && .AVIATION...18Z TAFS SATELLITE TRENDS SHOWING STRATUS ERODING FROM WEST TO EAST OVER THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE. WOULD EXPECT RAPIDLY IMPROVING CONDITIONS IN THE NEXT HOUR OR TWO AT KAIA AND KSNY WITH KSNY BEING THE LAST TO BREAK OUT. VFR CONDITIONS THEN EXPECTED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AT ALL SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AIRPORTS. START TO SEE DETERIORATING CONDITIONS LATE TONIGGHT AS A STORM SYSTEM MOVES INTO SOUTHWEST WYOMING. RAWLINS WILL BE THE FIRST TO GO DOWN AND POSSIBLY KLAR AS THURSDAY MORNING PROGRESSES. CONFIDENCE NOT TOO HIGH THOUGH ON KLAR...SO HELD OFF ON LOW CONDITIONS. WILL SEE HOW THAT IMPROVES ON THE 00Z TAFS. && .FIRE WEATHER...NO FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS AS MINIMUM AFTERNOON RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL BE RELATIVELY HIGH AND WINDS WILL BE LIGHT TO MODERATE. && .CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WY...NONE. NE...NONE. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...RUBIN LONG TERM...CLAYCOMB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY 144 PM MST WED MAR 2 2011 NEZ002-003-019>021-054-055-095-096-WYZ101>119-032045- DAWES-BOX BUTTE-SCOTTS BLUFF-BANNER-MORRILL-KIMBALL-CHEYENNE- NORTH SIOUX-SOUTH SIOUX-CONVERSE COUNTY LOWER ELEVATIONS- NIOBRARA COUNTY-NORTH LARAMIE RANGE- FERRIS/SEMINOE/SHIRLEY MOUNTAINS-SHIRLEY BASIN- CENTRAL LARAMIE RANGE AND SOUTHWEST PLATTE COUNTY- EAST PLATTE COUNTY-GOSHEN COUNTY-CENTRAL CARBON COUNTY- NORTH SNOWY RANGE FOOTHILLS-SOUTHWEST CARBON COUNTY- SIERRA MADRE RANGE-UPPER NORTH PLATTE RIVER BASIN-SNOWY RANGE- LARAMIE VALLEY-SOUTH LARAMIE RANGE-SOUTH LARAMIE RANGE FOOTHILLS- CENTRAL LARAMIE COUNTY-EAST LARAMIE COUNTY- 144 PM MST WED MAR 2 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE...EAST CENTRAL WYOMING...SOUTH CENTRAL WYOMING AND SOUTHEAST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL BRING CHANCES FOR RAIN AND SNOW THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. A STRONGER PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM AND COLD FRONT COULD IMPACT THE REGION FROM SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATING SNOW AND COLDER TEMPERATURES WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIME. THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGIC...AND CLIMATE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/CHEYENNE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
WYDOT sensor at Arlington measured sustained winds in excess of 40 mph with a peak gust of 60 mph at 2/1511 PM.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, March 2011
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: 276908.