Cool Sky Country

Posted Tue, September 1, 2009 - 1:34 PM
weather, coolstuff

So Montana might be Big Sky Country, but it's well worth it to keep your head up in Wyoming as well. These, just in the last two days.

Thunderstorm over the Snowy Range

This storm was approaching from the west as I drove up and over the Snowy Range from west to east. At the point where the road switchbacks in a little upside-down "U" between Lake Marie and Libby Flats, I stopped at a vantage point on the eastern side of the switchback, the whole time cognizant of the violence following me. There was a considerable amount of lightning on the southern margin of the storm, and I could see vertical shafts of precipation in various colors, indicating different amounts of rainfall, and, where white, hail. I was on an exposed area near 11,000 feet and above treeline, but stayed close to the car and fired off a couple shots. I outran the storm downhill towards Centennial, but realized I didn't want to make camp as the storm, made more severe by the uplift of the range, blew down the eastern slope. Instead I continue to Centennial to get dinner, and right as my food arrived, so did the storm, with driving, horizontal rain, gusts to maybe 45 mph, and pea-sized hail. But it was over by the time I finished dinner, and making camp was a lot more pleasant afterwards.

Crepuscular Rays over the Medicine Bow NF

Storm over the Laramie Valley