Weathering the 'bomb cyclone'

A storm believed to have had the largest span in at least a decade rolled through Crook County on Wednesday, disrupting ordinary business and sending residents scurrying for home until the snow gave way to high winds and blowing drifts on Thursday morning.

According to the Wyoming News Exchange (WNE), the blizzard stretched all the way from Denver to the Dakotas and was thought to be the largest in almost 40 years.

"I've been told that we have not seen a storm of this nature since the Thanksgiving blizzard of 1979 and the 2003 storm," Governor Mark Gordon told the WNE. "Reportedly, it has the same intensity as a Category 1 hurricane."

According to the National Weather Service, the amount of snow varied considerably across this region, from just an inch in northwest South Dakota and Newcastle to 18 inches near Kadoka.

In Crook County, preliminary reports placed the snowfall at around eight inches in Sundance and five inches near Devils Tower. In Hulett, Clerk Melissa Bears estimates around six inches fell, mostly staying in one place.

Thanks to wind gusts that reached up to 60 or 70 mph, the National Weather Service reports that a quarter-mile visibility was reported across the area and drifts were created several feet deep, even in areas with a smaller amount of snow.

Highways across the state were either closed or labeled for no unnecessary travel throughout the two-day weather event. WY116 experienced closures in both directions from Sundance to Upton on Wednesday afternoon and WY585 from Four Corners to Sundance thanks to a drift by the old store around eight to ten feet high across the highway.

WYDOT crews fought through the night on Wednesday to keep the drifts knocked back and the roads passable despite the efforts of severe drifting, high winds and slick conditions.

"The worst for us was actually to the south, towards the Newcastle area, and Sundance," says Brad Marchant, WYDOT Area Maintenance Crew Supervisor. "We were out until almost midnight on Wednesday night and then some of us were back out at 2 a.m., so we really didn't have any downtime. It was a long storm."

Most of the WYDOT crew chose to stay the night at the shop in Sundance, anticipating the challenges ahead.

Marchant himself stayed in Hulett to cover WYDOT’s bases in the north of the county.

“That’s the first time we’ve ever had so many people stay in the shop, because guys who even live in Sundance knew they weren’t going to make it home, so they just stayed,” he says.

Keeping the drifts knocked back was the main priority, Marchant says, because it’s all too easy for a four-foot drift to turn into a ten-foot drift. Some of the trucks began to get stuck on Wednesday night thanks to the quickly building snow, he notes.

“We spent a lot of time pulling trucks back out so we could hit them again,” he nods.

In Crook County, I-90 eastbound from Moorcroft to Sundance shut down on Wednesday evening and remained closed to travel until around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

“We had drifting out around milepost 169. The eastbound side of I-90 closed, [though] the westbound was left open, because you had that heavy drifting through from Coal Divide. Also, South Dakota closed,” says Marchant.

Because I-90 had closed on the South Dakota side but there is no gate to warn travelers, Marchant says WYDOT needed to work to keep travelers from getting stranded at the point where the roads were not being plowed.

But his team was prepared, says Marchant, and it showed in how few roads needed to be closed. Every large piece of equipment – everything not nailed down – was moved out ready to deal with the storm.

“All in all we got really lucky with the snow. None of our equipment was damaged, nothing broke, nobody got hurt and we didn’t have any big accidents or anything,” Marchant says.

“The storm was big enough and there was enough roll-up that a lot of people stayed home and weren’t trying to get out.”

According to both Marchant and Sheriff Jeff Hodge, there were no reports of stranded vehicles in the county and no rescue missions were needed.

Though Marchant says he’ll be having words with the groundhog if he should ever cross its path, he acknowledges that WYDOT did get plenty of snow-clearing practice over this winter and, thanks to that experience, had a less difficult time dealing with the storm than some counties to the south of the state.

Meanwhile, as the snow fell and road conditions worsened, the Black Hills National Forest shut many of its offices on Wednesday and opted to keep them closed on Thursday. The Sundance USDA Service Center likewise closed on Thursday, while Crook County School District called for parents to collect kids at lunchtime on Wednesday and, along with Kids Print Daycare, declared a snow day on Thursday.

Sundance City Hall remained open, although with a skeleton crew to handle emergencies. The county courthouse closed down at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and opened back up the next day at noon.

Many local businesses chose to do the same as traffic in and out of Sundance dwindled to almost nothing. The Crook County Museum and 1875 Gallery stayed shut on Thursday, for example, though some businesses, such as the Longhorn Saloon and Grill and the Bearlodge Bakery, were able to offer their wares through at least some of the blizzard.

For most people, the sensible option was to head home with supplies and stay indoors for the duration.

Marchant warns Crook County residents that the warm temperatures currently blessing this area may have downsides with the amount of snow that covered the ground. The Belle Fourche River had already broken its banks as this week began and further flooding is likely.

“We’re hoping for cooler temperatures now, just to slow the snow melt. But the way it’s looking now, we’re going to be up in the 50s and 60s and it’s going to release a lot of water real quick,” he says.

Very little can be done to prepare for flooding, he adds. “You’re pretty much reacting to it – there’s not much we can do except keeping an eye on verges and crossings, hoping and praying. We’ll be keeping our eyes on it, because it’s not looking good now.”