Star Valley Weather

Star Valley and much of Lincoln County ended up with a very beneficial Spring with regards to precipitation. Unlike most of  Wyoming,  much of Lincoln County received above normal amounts of precipitation for both June and the 3 Spring months.   Looking back even further the 6 month and 12 month precipitation analysis continues to show that particularly Star Valley has been the one wet area across Wyoming.     The following are the totals observed in Star Valley for…

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A view from the West Hills Cam looking east across Afton and the Salt River Range was the setting for afternoon cumulonimbus clouds this June 18th 2020  

  National Weather Service Riverton WY 1242 PM MDT Wed Jun 17 2020 …Overnight Rainfall Totals Across Western and Central Wyoming… A late Spring Cold Front moved across the region overnight and brought wide spread precipitation to western and central Wyoming. The following reports are from Tuesday afternoon through noon today. Location Amount Time/Date Elevation (ft.) …Big Horn County… Lovell 2 SSW 0.82 in 0700 AM 06/17 3950 Lovell 0.52 in 0710 AM 06/17 3847 Shell Creek Snotel 0.30 in…

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While not rare it was a cold and frosty in much of Star Valley and surrounding areas of Wyoming and Idaho/Utah this less than two weeks away from the beginning of summer June morning. Not unexpectedly, the coldest observed temperatures were near the Salt River in the valley bottom.  Double L Ranch northwest of Etna dipped to 27F A big warm up is in store for the region the remainder of the week with temperatures returning to near or above…

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…Freeze Warning this Morning for the lower elevations of Western Wyoming… .An unusually cold June storm weather system has brought much colder air into western Wyoming, including the lower elevations. Once skies clear tonight and winds diminish, temperatures will continue to drop from already unseasonable levels. Thus, a freeze warning has been issued for late tonight and Tuesday morning. Temperatures should be a few degrees colder then they were overnight last night. Star Valley- Including the cities of Afton, Alpine,…

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A powerful line of thunderstorms developed Saturday morning over Eastern Utah and Western Colorado and raced northeastward across the Central Rockies into the adjacent high plains.  This line of storms was driven  by a strong upper low and associated jet streak that tracked from off the coast of Southern California Friday night to the Canadian  border region of North Dakota Sunday morning.   There were hundreds of reports of severe wind gusts with the storms noted in the following storm…

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a severe thunderstorm that originated over Northern Utah Saturday afternoon moved rapidly northeastward across particularly the upper portion of Star Valley during the evening.  Following reports were received: Lincoln County Homeland Security & Emergency Management A storm system that blew through Star Valley caused wind damage to homes, downed power poles, sparked a couple fires, and caused a lot of tree branch debris this evening. Various reports have come from Osmond, Fairview, Afton, Grover, and Thayne. Lower Valley Energy has…

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After a brief setback to early spring this weekend  which saw snowfall up to 3 inches Saturday morning, a major pattern shift will take place bringing summer like temperatures later this week.  This shift can best be seen in the series of 500 mb charts showing a major upper ridge replacing the current low pressure trough  over the area.   This will lead to temperatures  well above normal by the end of the coming week over the Western States  …

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After being unavailable most of the past winter the Web Cam located in the West Hills with a great view of Afton and the upper valley is back on line. http://www.camviewing.com/mosaic/ Here are videos the past couple days from the cam during sunset and the rise of the full moon.   The first invasion of Snake River Valley dust of the spring was observed Wednesday afternoon Thursday afternoon May 7 2020      

While residents of Star Valley  realize that snow could still fall even into June, typically the period from October 1st to the end of April comprises the snow season.  Thus it is a good time to review this past winter which most of Western Wyoming experienced an above normal snowfall. The first graph shows the totals for the period from October 1 2019 to April 30 2020 at reporting stations in Star Valley as well as Jackson. Typically the greater…

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