A cold front and an associated upper level disturbance moved across Wyoming and brought heavy snow to the Teton Range west of the Continental Divide and high winds to areas east of the Divide. Around a foot of new snow fell at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
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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 RIW wrote it up.
A cold front and an associated upper level disturbance moved across Wyoming and brought heavy snow to the Teton Range west of the Continental Divide and high winds to areas east of the Divide. Around a foot of new snow fell at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Meanwhile, the normally windier locations of Natrona County and those around Clark saw wind gusts past 58 mph. The highest wind gust recorded was 91 mph near Clark in the Cody Foothills. Other peak speeds were generally from 60 to 65 mph.
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 Jan 17, 2:23 PM MST, 5 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY 223 PM MST SAT JAN 17 2015 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WITH WEST SURFACE WINDS WILL INCREASE TONIGHT AND BRING IN PACIFIC MOISTURE TO THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS MAINLY NORTH OF ALPINE JUNCTION. SNOW WILL PICK UP IN THE TETONS AND YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK AROUND MIDNIGHT. HAVE UPGRADED THE WINTER STORM WATCH TO A WARNING FOR THE TETONS...AND ISSUED WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES FOR JACKSON HOLE AND YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. UPGRADED THE HIGH WIND WATCH FOR THE CODY FOOTHILLS TO A WARNING AND ISSUED HIGH WIND WARNING FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN FREMONT COUNTY AND NATRONA COUNTY. WINDS SHOULD KEEP UP SOME WARMING OVER AND NEAR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE MOUNTAINS. THE WESTERN VALLEYS MAY SEE SOME RAIN OR RAIN MIXED WITH SNOW SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WOULD LIMIT THE SNOW ACCUMULATION THESE AREAS. .LONG TERM...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY BEGINNING OF FCST...FLAT RIDGING ACROSS THE WEST WITH ROBUST MOISTURE OF EARLIER IN THE DAY BEING REPLACED BY MORE MODEST AMOUNTS WITH LIGHT TO OCCASIONALLY MODERATE SNOW STILL STREAMING/FALLING ACROSS THE WRN MOUNTAINS OF WY...TAPERING OFF THE WARNING/ADVISORIES THEN IN PLACE. UPSTREAM FROM NRN ID INTO SRN BC...A FEW FAST MOVING DISTURBANCES MOVING THRU THE RELATIVELY FLAT FLOW WILL ARRIVE AND BEGIN TO IMPACT THE FA BY MONDAY MORNING...MARKING THE BEGINNING OF A DECLINE IN PRECIP/SNOW AS THE FIRST WAVE DRAGS PRECIP CHCS TO THE SOUTH AND OUT OF THE STATE BY MON EVE. WITH MUCH LESS MOISTURE ACROSS THE W/NW/NRN MOUNTAINS TO WORK WITH...THE NEXT FEW FLEETING SWS WILL NOT HAVE AS MUCH TO WORK WITH INASMUCH AS AVAILABLE MOISTURE...AND THUS WILL PRODUCE LITTLE IN THE WAY OF SNOWFALL BY THIS POINT. THE THIRD WAVE PLOWS THRU OVERNIGHT MONDAY INTO TUESDAY MORNING... WITH ONLY VERY LIGHT SNOW OVER THE NW FA AND BIGHORNS ACCOMPANIED BY A QUICK MOVING CLIPPER FRONT ACROSS THE ERN ZONES WHICH WILL MAINLY INCREASE GUSTY NW WIND FOR A PERIOD...WITH ONLY VERY SMALL CHCS FOR PRECIP IN THE SAME LOCATION. THE FINAL SET OF SW DISTURBANCES WILL RIDE THRU THE CWA BY AFTERNOON TUESDAY WITH LITTLE IN THE WAY OF PRODUCING MUCH OF ANYTHING INT HE WRUNG-OUT ATMOSPHERE. WED THRU SAT...RIDGING IN ONE MANNER OR ANOTHER CONTINUES ACROSS THE EPAC AND WCST...KEEPING THE FA GENERALLY UNDER NWRLY TO NRLY UPR LVL FLOW. BEYOND THAT...MID/LR MDL DIFFERENCES MAKE THE REST OF THE FCST AMBIGUOUS AT BEST...WITH INCREASING TIMING DIFFERENCES SHOWING UP FIRST...FOLLOWED BY MORE SPATIAL DIFFERENCES BY THE END OF THE FCST. HAVE THEREFORE TAKEN BITS AND PIECES OF THE BEST PARTS FROM EACH OF THE MODELS TO PUT TOGETHER A FINAL PRECIP FCST. ON THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THINGS...THE GENERAL PATTERN SHOULD KEEP TEMPERATURES...BOTH HI AND LO...MAINLY SEASONAL WITH NO WIDESPREAD OUTBREAKS OF ANY KIND. && .AVIATION.../00Z ISSUANCE/ EAST OF THE DIVIDE...KCOD/KCPR/KLND/KRIW/KWRL ROUTES VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO PREVAIL AT THE AIRPORTS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY. STRONG WINDS WILL BE ENCOUNTERED OVER AND NEAR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE MOUNTAINS AND THROUGH THE WIND CORRIDOR FROM KRKS TO KCPR TONIGHT AND SUNDAY WITH AREAS OF LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR. OVER THE MOUNTAINS AREAS OF MVFR TO IFR CEILINGS WITH VISIBILITY REDUCED IN SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL INCREASE AFTER 06Z BECOMING PREVAILING OVER THE MOUNTAINS WITH TERRAIN OBSCURED. WEST OF THE DIVIDE...KBPI/KJAC/KPNA/KRKS ROUTES VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL EARLY IN THE FORECAST THROUGH AROUND 06Z...THEN AROUND KJAC AND KAFO...MVFR TO IFR CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP WITH LOW CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES REDUCED IN SNOW AND FOG. FROM 06Z TO 12Z THESE CONDITIONS WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD OVER THE WEST... ESPECIALLY THE MOUNTAINS OBSCURING TERRAIN. THE LOWER CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES MAY SPREAD EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS INTO KPNA...KBPI... KEMM AND POSSIBLY AS FAR EAST AS KRKS WHERE STRONG SURFACE WINDS WILL BE ENCOUNTERED. && .FIRE WEATHER... TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ON THE COOL SIDE WITH FAVORABLE RELATIVE HUMIDITY WITH WIDESPREAD SNOW COVER OVER MOST OF THE AREA. SNOW WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND STRONG SURFACE WINDS OVER AND NEAR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE MOUNTAINS AND THROUGH THE WIND CORRIDOR FROM ROCK SPRINGS TO CASPER. GENERALLY MIXING HEIGHTS WILL BE LOW. THE WINDS SHOULD BE STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE FAIR TO GOOD SMOKE DISPERSAL IN THE AFTERNOON IN THE FOOTHILLS OF THE MOUNTAINS. PLEASE REFER TO THE WINTER STORM AND HIGH WIND PRODUCTS FOR MORE DETAILS IN YOUR AREA. && .RIW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 5 AM MST MONDAY WYZ019-020. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 AM MST MONDAY WYZ001-013. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 AM MST MONDAY WYZ012. HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 AM MST MONDAY WYZ003. && SHORT TERM...C.BAKER LONG TERM...BRAUN AVIATION...C.BAKER FIRE WEATHER...C.BAKER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY 327 PM MST SAT JAN 17 2015 WYZ001>020-022>030-181200- 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- 327 PM MST SAT JAN 17 2015 ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE TETON AND GROS VENTRE RANGES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES FOR JACKSON HOLE VALLEY AND YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK FROM 11 PM SATURDAY UNTIL 5 AM MONDAY.... ...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE CODY FOOTHILLS FROM 8 PM SATURDAY UNTIL 5 AM MONDAY AND FOR THE GREEN MOUNTAINS...RATTLESNAKE RANGE AND LOWER ELEVATIONS OF NATRONA COUNTY FROM MIDNIGHT UNTIL 5 AM MONDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW AND INCREASING RIDGE TOP WINDS WILL SPREAD INTO THE WEST TONIGHT. THE HEAVIEST SNOW IS EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHWEST WYOMING. PLEASE SEE WINTER STORM WARNING AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES FOR DETAILS. HIGH WINDS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE CODY FOOTHILLS...AND THE GREEN MOUNTAINS...RATTLESNAKE RANGE AND CASPER AREA TONIGHT. PLEASE SEE HIGH WIND WARNINGS FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT...SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE WEST...WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL OVER THE FAR NORTHWEST. HIGH WINDS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE CODY FOOTHILLS IN THE NORTH...AND ACROSS THE GREEN MOUNTAINS...RATTLESNAKE RANGE AND CASPER AREA IN CENTRAL WYOMING. MONDAY...ANOTHER CHANCE OF SNOW FOR THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE URGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS AND WIND GUSTS. TEAM RIVERTON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A mesonet sensor very near the town of Clark measured wind gusts of 63 and 59 mph during the late evening.
Strong winds blew on the south side of Casper. The weather sensor at Outer Drive had several wind gusts past 58 mph with a maximum gust of 71 mph.
The higher elevations of the Green and Rattlesnake ranges saw high wind gusts. The highest wind gust was 76 mph at Fales Rock.
A foot of new snow was measured on top of the Jackson Hole Ski Resort.
Winds gusted past 60 mph in the vicinity of Clark. The strongest winds occurred at the sensor 5 miles west-northwest of Clark where there were several wind gusts exceeded 74 mph with a maximum of 91 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, January 2015
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: 553261, 550683, 550682, 550680, 550681.