Don Day: April Was “Awful” For Cheyenne/Laramie, But Don’t Panic
Cheyenne-based meteorologist Don Day Jr. we "really need to wait to see how May/Early June pan out before people totally freak" about drought conditions.
Day is the founder and President of Dayweather Inc., based in Cheyenne.
April 2022 was the driest April in Cheyenne since 1880, according to the Cheyenne Office of the National Weather Service.
But Day says the good news is that the area entered April on a fairly normal precipitation track, so we should be OK if we get plenty of precipitation over the next few weeks.
When messaged about the regional drought situation by Townsquare Media on Wednesday, Day wrote:
"depends on where you are talking about, WY has seen significant improvement last 8 weeks especially central and north, snowpack has improved, many areas of ND, MT as well, conditions are worse in CO KS NM, keep in mind May/June are key precip months, so really need to wait to see how May/Early June pan out before people totally freak."
Specifically, on the subject of the dry April in Cheyenne and Laramie, Day wrote
"Yes April was awful for Laramie and Cheyenne, but precip from Jan to March was about normal, Casper was much above normal in April, so the dryness was not everywhere."
He added, however, that the area does need a wet May and June to avert a more serious drought scenario.
Day said that as of Wednesday morning, Cheyenne had received .75 inches of precipitation.
That number has presumably increased over the last 24 hours after a cool, wet day.
But it was already well above the .20 inches of precip that the National Weather Service recorded in Cheyenne in April.
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