textproduct: Western and Central Wyoming

KEY MESSAGES

- Cool and mostly clear skies overnight for central Wyoming. Clouds linger over western mountains and valleys.

- Warming up this weekend with temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal by Sunday. These warm temperatures remain in place through mid-week.

- Occasional light snow will be confined to the mountains over the next 7 days, with dry conditions for basins and valleys.

UPDATE

Issued at 1208 PM MST Fri Jan 9 2026

The forecast remains on track with near seasonable temperatures, breezy winds, and light mountain snow today. As mentioned in the morning discussion, lingering moisture and subtle shortwaves embedded within northwest flow aloft will be enough to support light, orographically induced mountain snow. The greatest chances (20-50%) of light snow exist for higher elevations of Yellowstone National Park, the northern Tetons, and the northern Bighorn Mountains this afternoon and overnight. The wind forecast also remains consistent as the aforementioned shortwaves traverse over the region and a tight pressure gradient keeps gusty 20 to 30 mph northwest winds. An occasional gust up to 35 mph cannot be ruled out in wind prone locations. The lingering available moisture will quickly be cut off as a western CONUS begins to build on Saturday. Confidence is high (80-90%) in temperatures climbing 10 to 20 degrees above normal much of next week with little to no precipitation chances.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 105 AM MST Fri Jan 9 2026

Light snow is ongoing over portions of Fremont and Natrona Counties at the time of writing this. This snow should decrease through the morning, ending around, or shortly after, sunrise. Any snow today will then be confined to the northwest mountains and Bighorn Mountains as lingering moisture and subtle shortwaves produce light orographic snow. Behind yesterday's cold front, temperatures are cooler today, but still seasonable for this time of year. Highs are in the low-to-mid 20s west of the Divide, and low-to-mid 30s east. For wind, a fairly tight gradient keeps breezy conditions around today, with widespread gusts of 20 mph or more for the area, though favored areas, like around Casper and near mountains, will see higher gusts.

A stubborn high is then projected to form over the western US and will dominate the weather pattern over the next week. Temperatures are expected to trend up this weekend, with warm highs into next week. The high keeps moisture well out of the area, with negligible precipitation chances through at least this weekend, and only slight chances arriving Tuesday across the northern mountains. In summary, mid-Janurary continues the pattern we saw in December, that being mild and dry.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 453 PM MST Fri Jan 9 2026

VFR conditions prevail over the next 24 hours. High clouds stream in from the north overnight area-wide with mid-level clouds for the western mountains. Breezy and cool northwest winds will continue to gust at times tonight into the day Saturday, before weakening around sunset.

KJAC is the lone TAF site which could see light snow this evening, due to showers over the Tetons drifting off the terrain occasionally; however, visibility should remain fairly high during any flurries that reach the airport.

RIW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.