Southern Wyoming, Western Nebraska - Feb 21-24

This was issued Tuesday. Expect another video today sometime

 

Winter Storm Watch
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Cheyenne WY
359 AM MST Wed Feb 22 2017

...MAJOR WINTER STORM LIKELY ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND
THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE FROM TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY
MORNING...


...WINTER STORM WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
FRIDAY MORNING...

* TIMING...Snow will begin by late this afternoon (Wednesday) or early evening
and continue through Friday morning. The snow may be heavy at
times on Thursday.

* TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...4 to 8 inches in the Laramie Valley,
otherwise 6 to 12 inches in lower elevations west of the
Laramie Range. 12 to 18 inches over the southern and central
Laramie Range. Up to 2 feet of snow is possible over the
northern Laramie Range.

* WINDS/VISIBILITY...East to northeast winds 10 to 20 MPH with
higher gusts. Visibilities may be reduced to under one half mile
at times in falling and blowing snow.

* IMPACTS...Mainly to transportation. Icy and snow packed roads
and low visibilities could lead to dangerous or impossible
travel conditions.

 

This took a while longer then I expected but the change process has begun and will quickly spread eastward and northeastward overnight. Poor SOB's gonna wake up Thursday morning in Evanston and Rock Springs and Rawlins [and other points along WY I-80] in their new temporary prison.

 

Don't stop until you get to Cheyenne, then don't break any longer then you absolutely have to.

 

I expect them to close roads Laramie over Monument Hill before too long. Only question is how long they will remain closed. Southern WY did not get as much as was expected and hopefully will reopen by at least some time later Thursday or by early Friday. The good news is there is not a lot of wind to move snow around. This wshould speed up opening considerably.



The bulk of this system will now move into the I-90 region of WY and southern SD and northern Nebraska and on towards southern MN

 

The system is continuing it's original forecast
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..
This line should gradually move eastward this evening, with the
heaviest snow focused just to the northwest of the transition zone
(from central Nebraska to northwestern Iowa and southern Minnesota).
Here, snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour will be possible.
Additionally, as the low-level cyclone deepens over Kansas/Missouri
this evening, surface wind gusts upwards of 40 mph may result in
occasional blizzard conditions, especially over northwestern Iowa
and southern Minnesota.
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Mesoscale Discussion 200