The Historic 2022-23 Winter Season in Rawlins and Carbon County

The 2022-23 winter season was a historic one for Rawlins and Carbon County, Wyoming. Three major blizzards (and numerous additional minor to moderate snow events) between late December 2022 and early April 2023 lead to the wettest winter on record for Rawlins. Temperatures were also consistently below average during this period, which meant that the snow never melted and rarely crusted over. The January-March 2023 period was the 4th coldest on record for Rawlins, and also observed the 2nd most days with highs failing to break freezing. 

Frequent strong winds led to several ground blizzard events across Carbon County, even well after the snow stopped fallling. The immense amount of snow resulted in impassable conditions along I-80 on several different occasions. Snow removal became a logistical challenge in Rawlins, running out of locations to put the snow.

The snow blitz started off on New Year's Day in 2023 with nearly 2-feet of snow and strong winds leading to crippling snow in Rawlins and surrounding areas of Carbon County. Another snow event on January 27-29 brought up to a foot of new snow to the valleys of Carbon County, and ground blizzard conditions along I-80. There was no rest for the weary as another major blizzard struck the Rawlins area on February 21-23 and dumped another 18-24 inches of snow. A bitterly cold March meant a very slow melt and additional ground blizzard events. The snow blitz finally concluded with one final blizzard on April 3-5, with new snow amounts a little less than the previous major events. The snow depth finally reached 0" on April 11 for the first time in 2023, but the drifts and piles lasted well into the spring. 

The crippling winter season of 2022-23 was compared to other historic seasons such as 1949 due to the unusual (two!) mid-winter blizzards, and lack of warm temperatures to melt the snow. In addition to the records at Rawlins, mountain snowpack in the nearby Sierra Madre Mountains reached record highs during the 2022-23 winter, especially in the northern and western portions of the mountain range. 

Creston Junction underpass on February 24, 2023

Photo Credit: WYDOT