Much like Usain Bolt in the 2009 World Championships 100m, fall and winter are quickly earning their first-place spot in this race towards the end of summer.
The first snowfall of the season struck Higher elevation areas such as the Jackson Hole, Glacier Park in Montana, and East Idaho between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. According to the Idaho State Journal, ski resort, Grand Targhee in Alta, WY, with an elevation of more than 9,000 feet, acquired the most snow at 5.5 inches.
At the beginning of the month, Yellowstone was even under lockdown after experts mistook snow for rock cracks near the Yellowstone volcano, as stated by Rare news.
Winter weather advisories were posted in the Teton and Bighorn mountain ranges along with Yellowstone National Park. For Montana, northern and southern parts of the Rocky Mountain and the West Glacier Region were under advisories as well. The advisories in affect are for regions above 6,000 feet in elevation.
“The wintry conditions were brought on by a strong cold front and dip in the jet stream,” said the Washington Post.
Snow in August is unusual, but many welcomed the chillier weather. The front helped clear out the smoky haze caused by the wildfires in the western United States and Canada. The wetter forecast should help put out the recent fires as well.
“It [snow] should help control them a little bit,” Scott Coulston, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls, reported to the Great Falls Tribune, “It’s unlikely it’s going to put them out completely, at least the larger fires.”
The cold front is not expected to last long, however. Weather at Yellow Stone National Park is expected to be between the high-50s and low-60s through this weekend and the following week. West Glacier, MT will be in the mid-to-high 60s all week along with the Grand Targhee Resort.
Unlike Usain Bolt, fall and winter may not be getting their gold medals for the month of August, but the cooler seasons made an appearance throwing a dash of snow in the midst of warm weather.
