Drought Monitor: Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper All Facing “Extreme Drought”

A drought monitor map published by several federal agencies shows much of southeast and eastern Wyoming, reaching into parts of central Wyoming as facing "extreme drought" conditions.

So what does that mean? Here is how the National Weather Service defines "extreme drought":

"Extreme Drought (D3):

Major crop/pasture losses,   extreme fire danger,     widespread water shortages or restrictions."

Don Day Jr: Next Few Weeks Will Be Critical

Townsquare Media of Cheyenne on Monday asked Cheyenne based Meteorologist Don Day Jr. about the current status of drought conditions for southeast Wyoming.

Specifically, we asked Day "So are we in the "seriously concerned" category for precipitation at this point? How bad is it?"

His answer?  ''drought conditions are bad https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ the next 12 weeks are critical, I do see some decent moisture chances finally developing this weekend into next week."

The drought map Day linked to in his response shows both the Cheyenne and Laramie areas in the "extreme drought" category, with most of the rest of Wyoming showing up as being under moderate or severe drought.

Casper is likewise facing "extreme drought"' conditions.

Northern Colorado and most of the Nebraska Panhandle are listed as being in an extreme drought, but much of northwest Colorado is shown as being under exceptional drought, the highest category included in the map

 Cheyenne, Laramie Forecasts

Cheyenne Forecast