Annual Climate Summary for Central and Western Wyoming

Big Piney

Buffalo

Casper

Greybull

Lake Yellowstone

Lander

Riverton

Rock Springs

Worland

The year 2024 across central and southern Wyoming was warmer than normal. Lander's second place finish is significant as the records there go all the way back to 1892.  The year ended warmer than normal, but it started with a week of frigid air in January. Temperatures in the -20 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit range were recorded. During 2024 some months were warmer and some colder than normal. June saw the arrival of the first 100-degree days. September was notable as several sites had the latest instance of 90-degree days, with a hot end to the month. Strangely enough, the month of October started with Freeze warnings and widespread temperatures below 32 degrees. There were also widespread Red Flag Warnings and Air Quality Alerts due to the wildfire smoke. December helped bump up the annual average temperature values, with the results ranging from 6 to 10 degrees above normal. 

Precipitation throughout the year was less than stellar. A few snow storms January to May, late October, and December helped, although much of the snow was confined to the mountains and areas west of the Continental Divide. October 29th saw the first true snow event of the 2024-2025 winter season with 8 to 12 inches of snow at higher elevations and 3 to 5 for other locations. June and July were seeded with several days of thunderstorms and areas with heavy rain. Small hail and localized flooding did accompany several of the more intense thunderstorms. One storm even dropped golf ball sized hail in a few locations. The drier weather in the summer put most of Wyoming into drought conditions. Then, unfortunately in mid-August, the Fish Creek Fire started in the mountains west of Riverton, near Togwotee Pass. This was followed in September by the Pack Trail Fire, and these two eventually merged into one fire, burning almost 100K acres. Air Quality Alerts were issued due to the heavy smoke in the region. Johnson County was also hit with the devastating House Draw Fire in August, started by lightning, and burning 175K acres. There were several other wildfires in the state during the summer.

Although we don’t talk a lot about winds in our climate summaries, it is important to note that 2024 had a lot of gusty days. This helped keep the dryness and warmth on many days. June had many 40 to 50 mph days, with Greybull even seeing a gust to 71 mph. July 27th saw one of the two highest wind speeds at our climate sites for the year with 74 mph in Buffalo. Lander saw a gust of 74 mph on August 17th, with the Riverton airport hitting 60 mph, and Big Piney at 68 mph that same day. December was also quite windy with days of 50 mph winds and a couple days that saw widespread 50-70 mph gusts. Smoot and Red Canyon hit 73 and 86 mph, respectively.

See the links above for details on individual sites for the year. For monthly data, and more specifics on daily records set at the various locations see the CLMs noted below. Click here for Water Year Precipitation summaries for more locations.

If you would like additional, or more in-depth climate information, please refer to our Climate Page. From the Riverton Home Page, hover over the "Climate and Past Weather" tab, and select the "Local" option. Under the "Observed Weather" tab you can then find the Daily Climate Report (CLI), the Preliminary Monthly Climate Data (CF6), the Monthly Weather Summary (CLM), and the Regional Summary (RTP). The Daily Climate Report will have the weather data for the day (from midnight to 1159 pm). The Monthly Climate Data (CF6) will have this data for each day of the month, compiling all the daily data into one form. The Regional Summary will have temperature and precipitation data for various locations across the state, updated 3 times a day.