textproduct: Western and Central Wyoming

KEY MESSAGES

- A nice start to the weekend for most with mainly dry conditions and increasing amounts of sunshine. Sunday looks nice as well with mild temperatures and light wind.

- A weather system may bring some showers to western Wyoming on Tuesday, with elevated fire weather possible East of the Divide.

- A wetter pattern may begin the middle of next week, although details on timing and amounts of precipitation are highly uncertain.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1248 AM MDT Sat Apr 4 2026

Many people of central and western Wyoming are thankful right now, as portions of the mountains go some well needed moisture, although it was accompanied by high wind in Johnson County, causing some power outages. As I write this discussion around midnight, we still have a few snow showers out there in and near the mountains as well as in Johnson County. However, the trend is down and almost all snow showers should be gone by morning.

We are now fully in early Spring, both of the meteorological and astronomical variety. On thing we are watching out for this morning is if the fog monster can crawl out of his lair to feast on the moisture from the snow that fell over the past couple of days. The chance is only 1 out of 5, but we will watch for it. The best chance would be east of a Powell to Hiland line as well as the western valleys where the snow fell yesterday.

In this meteorologists humble opinion, you need four things for a nice early Spring weekend in Wyoming. One is light to moderate wind, at least by Wyoming standards. We will have that today, with some breezes in the favored areas, mainly from Rock Springs to Casper, but nothing more than 15 knots, check. The second is some sunshine. We still have clouds around now but sunshine should increase through the day. There will be some fair weather cumulus, but nothing more. The third is dry conditions. Almost all snow showers should end by morning, with all almost all areas dry. The fourth is mild temperatures. Much of the area will have that, with temperatures close to somewhat above normal. The exceptions will be areas that saw a decent amount of snow yesterday, mainly Johnson and Natrona Counties as well as eastern Bighorn and Washakie Counties. They will remain cool today as the strong April sun melts the snow. Sunday looks even better as ridging builds across the west and upper level convergence brings more sunshine, somewhat warmer temperatures for everyone and less of a breeze. So, all in all, a nice weekend is on tap.

Monday looks like a dry and tranquil day as well. Then, things begin to transition on Tuesday as ridging flattens and upper level low pressure moves across the Canadian Prairie provinces. Most of the moisture should remain to the north with it. There could be some showers with it, mainly across the north and the western mountains. Amounts look light though, with the NBA ensemble giving less than a 1 in 2 chance of a tenth of an inch of precipitation from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning. Of greater concern will be possible elevated fire weather as the pressure gradient tightens, producing a gusty wind. This, combined with warm temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal and humidity falling into teens will be something we have to watch. Looking further out, a few systems from the middle through the end of the week will bring additional chances of showers. However, model consensus is very poor at this time. So, although we will have a couple of chances of still needed rain and snow, details of specific timing and amounts are highly uncertain at this point. One thing to note as that these will be Pacific systems, so temperatures will not be very cold so rain may end up dominating in the valleys with any precipitation we may receive.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 404 AM MDT Sat Apr 4 2026

Low VFR conditions continue to linger in the western terminals, but should scattered out by 16Z as high pressure builds into the area. We can't rule out patchy fog in areas that saw snow yesterday, but the chance is only around 20 percent and not enough confidence to put in the TAFs. Otherwise, expect dry conditions through the TAF period. Wind gusts to around 20 knots will be possible this afternoon in vicinity of KCOD, KCPR, KPNA and KRKS. Wind will decrease after sunset tonight as wind decouples.

RIW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.