Winter has come to Wyoming

Yesterday was October 10th and we got our first snowfall here in Green River, Wyoming. I’m not just talking about a few flakes that melt before they hit the ground, but big, fat, wet flakes putting a decent coating on cars and lawns (and perfect for snowballs!).

By the afternoon it did warm up a bit and things started to melt. Then around dinnertime as the temperature dropped, snowflakes began swirling again – and the wind picked up. Big time. The whole night the wind was howling outside and when I got up this morning we were experiencing white-out conditions.

Of course, my good friend from Belgium has been visiting the past few days and today she was scheduled to drive up into northern Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park and Cody – the home of Buffalo Bill. She made her first attempt at 7:30am but was back by a little after 8am. She had made it to the bridge (usually a 5 min drive away) but couldn’t see 5ft in front of her (or the road) and was skidding quite a bit, so she prudently decided to return. Now it’s 10am and she’s off on her second attempt. It has cleared up quite a bit but is still blowing something fierce! Good thing she went off and bought herself a winter coat yesterday! Not sure how much use she’ll get out of it in Belgium, though…

According to the weather forecast this system should move through by Tuesday when it will get up to 11 degrees celsius and be sunny. Even so, if this is a sign of what is to come this winter, I am definitely rethinking my idea of buying a bike to get around when Doug’s got the car. I think I’ll just stock up on canned goods and emerge in May!