Over the past week, Wyoming has been experiencing a heat wave that brought record temperatures to portions of the state. As heat warnings have now expired in western Wyoming, here is a look back at what we saw.
The most recent heat wave started last Saturday, and the hottest days were Sunday and Monday. Portions of central and northern Wyoming saw the warmest temperatures, and some cities like Worland and Sheridan broke all-time record highs of 110 and 109 degrees, respectively, on Sunday.
Dozens of daily high records were broken from July 11 through 15 across the state, with Worland and Clark hitting 111 degrees on Monday.
Several towns broke daily records four days in a row, including Boulder, Fontenell, Jackson and Lyman, all reaching low to mid 90s.
While Casper did not break any all-time records, they did see three days in a row of triple-digit heat. National Weather Service Meteorologist Taylor Wittmann said this heat is rare for the Casper area, as it only averages one 100 degree day a year.
"Some place like Casper, which goes back to 1939, looking at records there, they hit 100 about every year to year and a half,” he said.
While much of the state saw triple-digit heat, southern Wyoming did not quite get as warm. Cheyenne recorded three days in a row of temperatures in the 90s, with the highest temperature of 93 degrees.
Heat waves like this are uncommon for Wyoming, but they do happen from time to time. This is because during the summer months, it’s common for high pressure systems to develop over the Mountain West.
"And so that will allow all the warm air towards the equator to kind of push up into the area,” Wittmann said. “You might hear the term high pressure, with this big bubble of hot and dry air, is allowed to just kind of sit there."
Northeast Wyoming remains under a heat advisory until Sunday evening.
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
