High winds this past weekend, common for summer months

WORLAND – The high winds around the Big Horn Basin this past weekend are common for the summer storm months.

Meteorologist-In-Charge Chris Jones said, “A lot of it depends on our atmospheric conditions and how much moisture is available.”

Jones said winds peaked at the Worland Municipal Airport at 4:20 p.m. at 52 miles per hour on Sunday and South Big Horn County Airport (Greybull) at 55 miles per hour.

Jones said the winds are common for the summer months and usually winds are between the 40 – 50 mile-per-hour mark and as far as damage, “It’s not uncommon for small limbs to fall off trees. It’s fairly consistent for this time of the year.”

A report of a power pole down was called in twice to dispatch between 4:30 and 5:50 p.m. and Road and Bridge Superintendent Randy Chenoweth said it was the only major damage reported during the storm.

Some areas weren’t as affected and Jones said in Basin winds peaked at 18 miles.

In some remote areas, a Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) is put in and winds are reported hourly.

Jones said at Lee Creek east of Ten Sleep, wind gust peaked at 52 miles from RAWS around 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. and at Crystal Draw south of Worland winds gusted up to 48 miles per hour round the same timeframe.

The Ten Sleep and Worland wind surges all came from the northwest direction.

Jones said, “It’s a pretty standard storm. It’s common for us to see wind speeds at 45 miles for this time of year.”

The storm Sunday did bring record rains to Worland. According to the National Weather Service climate record, Worland received .18 inches of precipitation Sunday, breaking the old record of .11 set in 1987 on Aug. 7. For the year, however, Worland’s 4.45 inches is below the 5.14 inch average.