By Ernie Over, WyoToday
I’ve always been a morning person. I guess that comes from growing up on a farm in North Pavillion and having chores to do before the school bus arrived. Then in high school I started my first big job, at the Lander radio station. I did the sign-on and sign-off shifts on weekends and did sports play-by-play during the football and basketball seasons. When I moved up to do the news, that’s a morning gig too, so, yes, up again early.
I like getting up early. In my mind it’s the best time of the day. The early mornings are crisp and cool, it’s magical to see the sunrise, and then there are the bird songs. There’s nothing I like to hear more than the morning symphony of our avian neighbors. The songs, at work, started last week. I got out of my vehicle and there was one bird, off somewhere, just singing away announcing its presence in the urban forest. Each day since, there have been more birds joining in every morning. There’s nothing like joyful bird songs to get your day started off on the right foot, or wing.
I’m still waiting for the Western Meadowlark to arrive from down south. I’ve seen robins, but so far, no meadowlarks. That’s my all-time favorite bird song. It should be any day now.
Snowmelt
With the warmer weather of the past two weeks, most of the snow on the ground has melted into the ground. I was worried about spring runoff, and I still am, but at least at the lower elevations the snow has melted with only a little mud to deal with. The barrow ditches out in the country are filled with water, as are the lower pastures and fields. Still waiting for the big runoff to occur. Our snow water equivalent in the Wind River drainage is still way above the 30 -year median. Last week it was at 124 percent. That’s a lot of water up there for this time of year. A few years back, the snowpack was only around 70 percent at this time. So, be glad we have a good snowpack. Now, all we need is alternating warm and cool days, so the water comes down slowly.
The National Weather Service station at Central Wyoming Regional Airport this past week reported excitement over the numeral “0”. It was the first time since November 26th that there was 0 inches of snow on the ground at their office. So, that means there were 136 consecutive days of at least one inch of snow on the ground. The old record was 109 days set during the winter of 2019-2020.
Another New Record
With all the news of snowfall this past winter season, another record was set over the weekend. The snow that fell Saturday measured 5.5 inches in downtown Riverton, making the season total 92.6 inches. That broke a 103-year-old record, set back in 1920. Downtown Riverton records date back to 1907, one year after the establishment of the town.
Suggested Reading
The 2022 Annual Report of the Fremont County Weed and Pest District is now out. The 38-page report is chock full of information on weed prevention and eradication, including ground crews, crews that work on highway rights of way, aerial weed control and, coming this year, a weed spraying drone for those hard-to-reach areas on foot or by vehicle. The report is easy to follow and contain many graphic illustrations and graphs.
Have a good week.
Ernie Over is an employee owner and a staff member of The Ranger, Lander Journal and Wind River News. He’s also the news director of the five-station WyoTodayMedia Radio Network in Fremont and Hot Springs counties, and the editor of the award winning Wyotoday.com Internet local news site.