Fall is upon us, with cooler temperatures and a little snow showing up in the mountains in early October. This is the time of year when our mindset begins making the transition from hiking, biking, boating, and fishing to thoughts of skiing, snowboarding, snow-machining, or heading south to a warmer climate. Given the change in … Continue reading Winter Outlook for 2025-26 →

The weather ultimately determines how bad our fire season will be. How dry, how hot, and for how long. Once fires do start, their size, intensity, and potential destruction will be determined by which way and how fast the wind blows. Two large fires that have currently been burning, one in southern Utah, and one … Continue reading Are Wildfires Getting Worse? →

In the summer months a good portion of our precipitation here in Jackson Hole, and throughout most of the Mountain West will be produced by thunderstorms. So, to help you avoid being caught out in a thunderstorm, and its associated lightning, I’ll give you a few hints on what to watch for in the sky, … Continue reading Thunderstorms and Lightning Safety →

I know it’s the time of year when everyone is thinking about spring and eager for warm and sunny weather, but it is also time to do my recap of the winter season. In this week’s column, I’ll review Jackson’s weather from December through March, to see how this winter compared to last winter and … Continue reading Winter 2024-25 in Review →

  Sunday, February 2, 2025, was Groundhog’s Day. The real significance of this day is that it marks the halfway point of our astronomical winter season. It’s been six weeks since the Winter Solstice in December and there are still six more weeks until we reach the Spring Equinox in March. This is also roughly … Continue reading First Half of the Winter 2024-25 for Jackson Hole →

It’s Thanksgiving week and time to update the winter outlook for the coming months, as snow enthusiasts anticipate the powder yet to come. I’ll start with the latest outlook from NOAA for December through January, issued on November 21st, 2024. NOAA’s Outlook The long-range outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center for December 2024 through February … Continue reading Winter Outlook 2024-25 →

A recent article in the Jackson Hole News & Guide entitled, “In Teton park, nights are becoming warmer”, naturally caught my meteorological eye. The article was generated from a recent climate assessment done for Grand Teton National Park. That report analyzed the historic temperature data from the Moran weather station, shown in the graph provided … Continue reading Teton park nights are warmer, and we caused it →

Much is said these days about temperatures, but very little is told about how those temperatures are measured. There are various types of thermometers used at established weather stations, each uses slightly different instrumentation.  Here I’ll describe the different types of thermometers used to take our temperature and how that instrumentation has changed over the … Continue reading Taking our Temperature and Thermometers →

It was a slow start to the Winter of 2023-24, but a big February and record March snowfall saved our winter. The winter ended with above average snowfall in both the Jackson Hole valley and up in the mountains. Think back to how grim the winter was looking around here all through December and into … Continue reading Snowfall Summary for Winter 2023-24 →

Is there such a thing as a typical El Niño or La Niña? Every year there is always a lot of talk about El Niño and La Niña and how it might affect the weather, especially our winter snowfall. The terms have become quite commonplace, although I suspect most people don’t fully understand what these … Continue reading El Nino, La Nina, Whatever →