Thoughts on the Impending Spring Blizzard

If the weather man is correct, it looks like we are in for another spring storm starting this evening. Prediction for 8-14 inches of heavy wet snow for this area. Wyoming weather is not the most predictable so, who knows? As I have mentioned before, we need the moisture. I did get the fertilizer on the lawn yesterday which means if the snow comes, my timing was impeccable.

Coming Soon - Right Here

Back in the Old Days

When Wyoming first established itself as cattle country, ranchers, some good and some not so good brought in cattle by the thousand. Texas Longhorns were cheap and once they were here much of the range was open and free to run cattle. In 1874, Wyoming had less than 100,000 head of cattle, five years later more than half a million grazed the state.

This Old Boy Doesn't Look Too Concerned About Bad Weather Coming

At that time, ranchers believed the weather was predictable and that the winter winds would keep much of the range open during the cold months, but they were wrong. Today we have many types of sophisticated weather equipment to predict storms like the one coming in a few hours. In the 1870s and 80s, it was weather guessed by the seat of their pants. Most new cattlemen either hoped for no bad weather or simply supposed it would not come. Nice try but it did not work.

The Great Blizzard of 1887

In November of 1886 heavy snow started to fall, so much of it in fact, that the range was covered for two months. Warm windy days in January of 1887 staved off a complete disaster, but then the blizzard came. One of the states worst hit on January, 28 dumping massive amounts of snow for four days. The results were a disaster, tens of thousands of cattle were dead and stockmen would never treat winter the same again.

Bison, Unlike Cattle, Seem to Have No Problem with Snow Cover

Cattle herds were rebuilt more slowly and much more carefully after that eventful blizzard and ranching in the Cowboy State would never be the same. Cattle would no longer be left, far out on the range to fend for themselves all winter long. Ranchers would move cattle from the high country in the early fall, and many started to put up hay to ensure feed if snows became too much.

So Here We Go again

Getting ready for our third spring snowstorm of the season. I planted some potatoes and peas in my garden but don’t suppose they will mind some cold and snow. Our trees are starting to leaf out and our early flowers look terrific, maybe not so much on Sunday.

Looks Like it Might Be a Few More Weeks for this

Predicting Weather Today

Might be a Weekend to Sit by the Fire
This one is at the North Bluff Castle in Guernsey State Park

Predicting weather is a tough job. It is also one of those jobs that seemingly everyone thinks they can do better than the pros. If they are correct we may be seeing closed roads in the area, just hope we do not get another day long power outage like we did two weeks ago.