PLATTE COUNTY - According to the National Weather Center in Cheyenne, snow totals were less than expected but brutally cold temperatures will linger through Friday morning.

A nationwide storm that stretched from the west coast all the way to the east coast brought at least 34 storm related deaths across the county.

According to NPR news, “The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.”

In Wyoming snow totals ranged from over 3 feet of snow in the Eastern Rocky Mountains to 15” of snow in parts of Platte County. The storm was a dangerous two-headed monster that brought both an elongated snowfall and plummeting temperatures with wind chills that reached -60 in the mountain ranges and -40 in Platte County.

"The front that we expected in Southeast Wyoming went south into Colorado," said NWS Meterologist Steve Rubin, commenting last Wednesday morning. "Because of that the snow totals are less than we predicted for the region. So far we are recording between 1-4 inches of snow with an additional 1-3 inches that will be falling this morning. Because of the dryer air the snow is light, fluffy and is drifting pretty good out there right now."

The snow lasted longer than expected and began Tuesday night around 7 p.m. and didn’t subside until Wednesday night around 7 p.m.

Area schools were closed last Wednesday and students were encouraged to participate in virtual learning from home, eliminating the term “snow day.” By Thursday schools were still on a delayed start due to the dangerously low temperatures.

The Guernsey basketball teams heading to the regional basketball tournament in Buffalo had barely made it out, traveling to the venue a day early. The roads were closing behind the school bus and although they made it to Buffalo in a blizzard, all agreed that it was not a trip they would like to make anytime soon. Whiteout conditions caused vehicles to travel at 30 mph or less.

The I-25 corridor between Cheyenne and Glendo was closed at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday and did not open until Thursday. Highway 26 from Dwyer Junction to Ft. Laramie was also closed due to deteriorating conditions.

The danger was said to be in the wind gusts that were registering at 60 mph in some areas along the corridor which caused blowing and drifting snow on the highways. Another danger will be the dangerously low wind chills that will be in the area until Friday morning.

"The temperatures today will most likely not rise much above zero," Rubin said last Wednesday. "Tonight the wind chills could plummet to -30 to -35 in the Wheatland area and as cold as -45 up near Douglas. Tomorrow the temperatures will remain cold as we may reach only between 5 and 10 degrees above zero. After the front passes, temps will rebound nicely by the weekend with mid-30s by Friday, low 40s on Saturday and temps near 50 by Sunday."

The prognostications were correct with two nights of brutal wind chills and blowing and drifting snow. By Friday afternoon the mid-30s felt like a Bahamian heat wave before warmer temperatures during the weekend were diminished by another round of gusty winds. A high wind watch was in effect until 8 p.m. Monday.

For the rest of the month of February and early March the area will see below normal temperatures and high wind gusts which will make the wind chills drop to single digits during the early morning hours. March seems bound and determined to come in like a Lion and in Wyoming “going out like a lamb,” is not the standard fare.