Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Areas of the county received as much as 12.3 inches of snow.
The storm also brought whiteout conditions that made travel difficult during much of the day.
The first storm of the winter made its presence felt last week, closing schools and roads around the region. Heavy snow and high winds blew in on Tuesday and kept up their assault on the Black Hills for more than 24 hours, causing closures and accidents as some roads quickly became impassable.
The storm brought impressive snowfall across northeastern Wyoming and into South Dakota.
On Wednesday afternoon, according to statistics from the National Weather Service (NWS) out of Rapid City, the highest recorded snowfall was 27 inches northeast of Deadwood.
The powerful storm, says the NWS, moved from the Rockies across the northern Plains and began dropping snow over the northeast of Wyoming during Monday night. In some places, almost a foot of snow had already accumulated by Tuesday morning.
Heavy rain also fell over the plains of western South Dakota, with strong winds accompanying the storm.
Gillette saw the most snow in Wyoming at 18 inches. In Crook County, areas around Sundance saw up to 12.3 inches of snow, while Colony, Alva, Beulah and Carlile all received 12 inches of the white stuff, Moorcroft got nine inches and Pine Haven saw seven inches.
Peak rainfall during the storm was 4.85 inches over the border in Union Center, South Dakota. Crook County was on the edge of the rainfall zone, with just 1.2 inches recorded six miles southwest of Beulah.
On Wednesday morning, every main road in the county was reporting slick conditions, drifted snow and blowing snow, many with reduced visibility and advisories for no unnecessary travel. Some were even closed due to the conditions, including U.S. 212 between the Montana and South Dakota state lines; I-90, WY 51 and U.S. 14/16 around Rozet and Moorcroft; and portions of I-90 between Moorcroft and Gillette and over the border towards Spearfish.
A crash took place over near Gillette on I-90 on Tuesday afternoon, blocking the left lane westbound at milepost 129. Wednesday saw a crash at milepost 182.5 near Sundance at 6:12 a.m., which blocked the right westbound lane until just after 8 a.m.
After closing early afternoon on Tuesday, Crook County School District announced that all schools would be closing for the whole day on Wednesday.
