A Low Of Zero Is Cold Even In Wyoming

We haven’t forgotten the translation of Wyoming is “Flipping cold!” It’s just that after temps above average lately a sudden zero is a slight shock.

In 2012 The Casper Star Tribune asked the National Weather Service to name the coldest town in Wyoming. Based on records from 1996-2008, that was in the Hoback Canyon in Northern Wyoming, in Bondurant, which averaged “for the (winter) months of December, January and February … 10.7 degrees.”

The newspaper did not ask for the coldest wind chill, but did get the windiest town in the Cowboy State (again, 1996-2008). That is in this tidy response from NWS Meteorologist Chis Jones:

Rawlins is the windiest … averaging 12.9 mph. Laramie and Cheyenne tied for the second windiest … with an average wind speed of 12.4 mph. Casper comes in third with an average … 12 mph.

Wait, the Capitol City was .4 mph windier than the other Windy City, Casper?

Either way, it’s gotten cold after it’s been way toastier than the Wyoming norm this winter. You have to be brand new to our state not to know just how nice. And maybe we kind of forgot, ourselves, that it’s really not supposed to be so nice. It dropped back to reality fast.

See more from University of Wyoming about what's normal for Wyoming weather (always fun for weather geeks). But what’s really nice is how we warm right back up for a couple of days later in the week. Pick your town's forecast here.