One of my all-time favorite weather books is Defining the Wind, by Scott Huler. It is the story of Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857), an admiral in the British Navy, former head of the British Hydrographic Office and the first person to quantify the wind. Beaufort had great observational weather skills. After years of sailing the … Continue reading Defining the Wind →

This past week has been warmer than normal over much of the Western United States, warm at least for late May and early June. In Jackson Hole we just had a string of days topping 80 degrees, 82-degrees for a high temp in town on May 29, 30 & 3, 2020. Looks like we’ll be … Continue reading Going from Hot to Cold →

You have probably heard the old saying that Jackson Hole gets nine months of winter and three months of bad skiing (substitute: boarding or sledding here). Some years, that is very true, as winter weather can start in September and last until June. Last month on this Blog, I reviewed the “meteorological winter” season, which … Continue reading Another SNOWY Winter in Jackson Hole →

It’s springtime in the Rockies and that means wild weather swings are bound to occur. This week brought high temperatures in the 50’s on Tuesday & Wednesday to Jackson Hole. Then, a perfectly sunny day with no wind on Thursday and temperatures topping 60-degrees in the Town of Jackson. That nice taste of spring weather … Continue reading Easter Weather Swing →

On the night of April 5th, 2020 , moist & unstable air moved over western Wyoming causing thunderstorms and a relatively intense graupel event (round, puffy pellets of snow). In combination, this would be termed a “Thundersnow” event.  Infra-red Satellite image below showing the bright green “cell” that contained those thunderstorms from Sunday night. Thundersnow … Continue reading April Thundersnow →

A potent storm system in the Gulf of Alaska will bring snow to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies today through Tuesday, lingering into April Fool’s Day. Map below shows position of Low-pressure Monday, March 30th and forecast position on Tuesday March 31st. Jet stream also pushes inland across Oregon, Idaho and … Continue reading More Snow, No Foolin →

The “meteorological” winter season is officially ended, defined by the months of December, January and February. The astronomical winter season, which began on the Winter Solstice (December 21st, 2019), runs until the Spring Equinox on March 19th this year. Below is a re-cap of all the highs and lows and snow that we experienced here … Continue reading Jackson Hole Winter 2019-20 Review →

On the last day of this Corona-Virus-shortened ski season the Town of Jackson and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort both broke snowfall records. That happened just when we thought spring was arriving early this March. Town Snowfall Record:12 inches of new snow was recorded at the Jackson Climate Station on the morning of March 15th, … Continue reading Record March Snowfall in Jackson, WY →

You may not be aware of it, but today, February 5th is National Weatherpersons Day. Celebrate with your favorite meteorologist, buy him or her a beer! This is also the beginning of a steady Northwesterly flow or “Dirty Ridge” event for the northern Rockies. As a Ridge of High pressure parks off the West Coast … Continue reading Snow in a Northwest Flow →

If you lived in Jackson for the last 12 months or so and I were to ask you to name three things you remember about the weather in 2019, the top three answers likely would be: 1) February was really snowy. 2) Summer was too short. 3) October was really cold. Correct on all counts. … Continue reading 2019: Coldest Year on Record for Jackson, Wyoming →