Winter storm blows through Valley and SW Wyo. creating camage.
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BRIDGER VALLEY — A tree at the Fort Bridger Post Office displays the damage created by the storm that blew through the area Monday night. Not only scrunched by the storm, branches broken off the tree lie behind the pile of snow on the left side of the picture. Drastic change from the weather even over Labor Day weekend as people talked about how hot it was.
Due to the storm and an accident I-80 was closed between Fort Bridger and Evanston Tuesday morning. It was later reported I-80 was closed across most of the state.
This tree is typical of the rest of the Valley where the heavy, wet snow brought branches to the ground and flattened shrubs and trees. The Evanston area, Green River and Rock Springs suffered high winds, and according to the National Weather Service in Riverton the winds sailing through Green River were hurricane force and was reported the Rock Springs Airport experienced winds of 86 mph.
The forecast had predicted this was coming, high winds and inches of snow, and the forecast materialized with temperatures dropping from 72 around 7:30 Monday night to 42 around 9 p.m. High winds blew through the area and plastered the snow on things in its pathway. The Evanston area had higher winds and damage was recorded in the city like in Green River and Rock Springs with trees being upended and power being cut due to the damage from the wind. The building in Evanston, which houses the Uinta County Herald and the bank were vacated as city officials were afraid it would collapse due to the damage the building experience. The building was cleared and people were allowed back in the building Wednesday.
To top off the intensity of the storm, another one travelled through the area Tuesday night dropping more inches. Best estimate, without measuring, was about 12 inches from the two storms. Weather predictions as of Wednesday was more moisture would hit the area through Thursday. Then the warm up on Friday was predicted to be sunny and near 67, with a gradual warm-up through the weekend and again hitting 79/80 degrees on Monday.
