What a difference a day makes

Twenty-four hours can make all the difference in weather in Carbon County. Depending on where you live, the weather can be very different also.

The past two days is a good example of this adage.

On Sunday, most of Carbon County was enjoying warm temperatures for this time of year. Municipalities throughout the county enjoyed highs near 50 degrees and it was welcome relief after a week of almost daily road closures due to Old Man Winter’s wrath.

The respite was short lived with a major snow storm hitting on Monday.

The unique aspect of this storm was how spotty it was hitting towns throughout the county.

U.S.30 and I-80 from Laramie to Rock Springs were shut down by 10 a.m. Snow was a factor in some places, but it was the wind that was the real culprit.

Winds were blowing at 25-30 miles per hour (mph) with gusts up to 50 mph. The temps dropped to under freezing around 2 a.m. Monday morning but snow didn’t appear until 8 a.m. in Hanna and Rawlins. Other towns not only didn’t have snow, but Medicine Bow had sunshine until 1 p.m.

WYDOT had predicted the snow to hit earlier, so Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow schools opened two hours later, but only Hanna was seeing bad weather. Elk Mountain, usually a place of strong wind and snow, was not getting hammered like Hanna and Rawlins. Saratoga was enjoying its banana belt reputation in the early morning, also.

The Hanna Marshall’s office put out a code red at 12:46 p.m.

“This is the Hanna Marshall’s Office with a Code Red Message. The Hanna’s Marshall Office is advising no unnecessary travel within the town of Hanna. Visibility is extremely limited making travel dangerous. Please stay home and stay safe.

By 2 p.m. the RNB State bank, Hanna Town Hall and Hanna schools were closed. The Marshall drove in front of one bus to guide it through the streets and public works director Larry Korkow went in front of the other school bus on its route.

It was reported two cars slid off the road and there was a minor accident in town due to the road conditions and poor visibility.

North Carbon County and the Valley, started getting the winter storm’s wrath, too, by the time the closings went into effect.

It just goes to show, Old Man Winter might give Carbon County a little breather once in a while during February, but he is also going to send weather to make sure we haven’t forgotten what he can do.