A Look Back At Cheyenne’s Worst October Snow Storms

As Old Man Winter prepares to rear his ugly head tonight, here's a look back at the worst October storms in Cheyenne history.

In 2009, Cheyenne broke a 137-year-old record with 28 inches of snowfall before Halloween. Cold fronts came early and often that fall. October 10th, a blizzard dumped ten inches on the Capital City. Later in the month, another storm left six more inches. It was also the coldest October on record in Cheyenne. Three hours east, the town of North Platte, Nebraska, set a new record for their snowiest month ever with over 30 inches.

In 2017, an October 8th blizzard closed Interstate 80 from Cheyenne to Rawlins and dropped over eight inches of snow in southeastern Wyoming. Another memorable October storm blasted the front range with over two feet of snow on October 24, 1997, closing Interstate 25 from Wyoming to New Mexico.

The average date for Cheyenne's first snowstorm of the season is October 18th, according to the National Weather Service. The earliest measurable snow accumulation on record was September 11, 1974, while the latest snowfall was recorded on December 10, 1963.

This week's storm probably won't break any snowfall records but the arctic cold front could set new marks for low temperatures Thursday and Friday.