Cold front WY (Casper, Cody, Lander: house, employment, high school)

[WyattE]

I see a cold front is coming in with some negative temps with it. Is this normal for your state each winter? Any dog owners here and how do you prepare your dog or other pets for this? I have a phone interview for the Casper area and this cold front makes me wonder if this area is a good choice.

[WyoNewk]

Yes, it's absolutely normal. It's slightly early this year, but sub-zero temps aren't unusual anytime from now through February or even into early March.

Our dog lives in the house and goes outside for a few minutes for potty breaks, sometimes lying in the sun when it's warm. In cold weather she's ready to come back into the house more quickly. If the sky is falling, be it rain or snow, she doesn't want to go out at all, but the cold doesn't bother her much. We have a coat she could wear but never bother with it.

If you have an outdoor dog, you'll need a dog house for it with wood chips or a blanket for ground insulation and a heated water dish. If you have a garage, many just install a doggy door in it and make that the dog's shelter. On cold nights or sub-zero days, I'd let the dog in the house. We do have days when, as they say, the weather is not fit for man nor beast. Livestock also need shelter from winter storms.

[sunsprit]

RE Cold Temps: Normal for the winter season. Do consider that the temperature is only part of the weather equation, especially in the Casper area. The other portion is the winds/gusts, which can approach hurricane strength and persist for days. The net effect is the wind chill factor, which can be perceived as much colder than the still air temp.

Dogs:

Our indoor dogs are also working herd dogs and companions, so they are outdoors with us when working livestock. They will play outside in all weather conditions, including rain/snow storms. They have an undercoat that protects them very well in the winter months (that they shed only twice per year; Sept-May & June-August). Indoor pets that don't have the fur coats to deal with the weather will generally not be outdoors much for many months of the year.

Our outdoor dogs are LGD's, and have been bred as all-weather 24/7/365 working dogs that spend their entire lives with their flocks of sheep. The only time they are in a shelter is if conditions are such that the sheep go into the shelter/barn.
Again, they have two-layer heavy fur coats and are more comfortable in the cold weather than the summer month. As working dogs, these dogs are never ever in the house and are not sheltered in any way differently from their livestock. They do very well under these conditions, but again ... the breed has been bred specifically for this purpose. There are a lot of working dog breeds that aren't used as LGD's but have these same abilities to cope with the weather conditions; I wouldn't do anything special for them for sheltering. The key is that they must have available fresh drinking water and good quality food.

PS: If you aren't a cold weather fan, or don't have activities to keep you entertained for the months of inclement weather that may prevail in the Casper area ... I'd suggest that Casper may not be your cup of tea. As always, I suggest you come visit during the winter months to check it out before making any decision about a move to the area.

[Happy in Wyoming]

I live in an area subject to both subzero temperatures and high winds. I have two dogs, both weighing about 40#. They're both inside dogs. My 14 yo has a heavy undercoat and enjoys playing in even the coldest or windiest weather. The only thing that bothers him is icy snow that gets between his toes; then he finishes very quickly and is ready to come in. My other dog has no undercoat and finishes up quickly when the temperature is under 20. Overall, they do very well here in a climate similar to Casper. However, I receive less snow than Casper as it's near desert here.

Small dogs definitely need sweaters for walks if you're in the mood to walk on a cold blustery day. But unless your dogs are Italian Greyhounds or a few other breeds that just can't tolerate the cold I encourage you to pursue your employment opportunity here. Our weather isn't that bad.

[Brian_M]

A week of cold? yeah, normal. How cold depends, I vividly remember one winter right around 1990 when I was in high school, watching the thermometer and listening to the radio for school closures (VERY rare thing back then). You see, they'd close the schools if it was colder than -30F at 7am. We came very, Very close for about a week straight. As I remember, that was right around Thanksgiving because I remember going skiing and once we got closer to the Tetons the temps raised by roughly 50deg. That was Lander though, small valley on the E side of the Divide and prone to inversions.

I moved away and back again with my wife and dog in 2006, first winter there we had another week where highs were -10ish. The dog didn't really care (rescue mutt with some husky in her, true dual-coat dog) so long as she had a bed outside. It was always her feet that became the issue first, and a simple bed outside was enough for her to comfortably stay out as long as she wanted. There were times we couldn't get her to come inside... *shrug* About the only thing that stopped her was when the snow was over her back, then someone had to break ground:



I can honestly say that I miss that kind of weather. This hot and humid sh...er, refuse, is for the birds. Glad I get 2 months in Montana this winter.

[volosong]

Brrrrr. Just in time for my trip to WY next week. Not much precip - bring the bike or the skis? Will prob bring both...and warm clothing! Looks like low to mid teens for the high temp next week.

[georgiainwyo]

Next week will be WARM compared to this week! Headed to school this morning after a very rare occurrence of a school cancellation yesterday. -13 when we got to school with wind chill around -30. This snap is supposed to last for several more days then get up to a whopping above zero before getting to around 20 again next week. Cold temps are "normal" but the length of time they stay varies. This is projected to be one of the longer cold snaps. Yuck!

[eiafjam]

Yep after all it is Wyoming.

[Happy in Wyoming]

The Cody area hasn't been too bad yet. Yesterday the temperature dropped from 21 at 12:15 A.M. to +1 just before midnight. The temperature continued down to -2 and is currently 0. The predicted low tonight is -13. Meanwhile tthe sun is shining with hardly any wind. Last night the windchill was as low as -16. The other cities in the area are warmer; we're oddly enough the cold spot.

National Weather Service : Observations : 3 Miles E Wapiti WY&zoneid=MST&offset=25200

[georgiainwyo]

Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming

The Cody area hasn't been too bad yet. Yesterday the temperature dropped from 21 at 12:15 A.M. to +1 just before midnight. The temperature continued down to -2 and is currently 0. The predicted low tonight is -13. Meanwhile tthe sun is shining with hardly any wind. Last night the windchill was as low as -16. The other cities in the area are warmer; we're oddly enough the cold spot.

National Weather Service : Observations : 3 Miles E Wapiti WY&zoneid=MST&offset=25200

When we left Cody this morning it was 2 degrees. Got to school in Meeteetse and it was -13. That is quite a difference for being only 30 miles apart. Meeteetse is one place that it wasn't warmer than Cody