A resident removes snow from the sidewalks in central Casper on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021 after the first snow storm of the season. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City)

CASPER, Wyo. — While the first freeze in areas of Wyoming east of the Continental Divide tends to occur in September, many locations in the region have yet to see their first freeze of the season, according to the National Weather Service in Riverton.

Casper has yet to see its first freeze, and the seven-day forecast for the area doesn’t call for that to occur through at least Columbus Day. Between Tuesday and next Monday, the coldest Casper is expected to get is around 36 degrees overnight Friday, according to the NWS in Riverton.

Casper is about a month behind its average first freeze date of Sept. 9. The earliest freeze on record in the Oil City occurred on Aug. 23, 2015, according to the NWS in Riverton. Casper would need to see temperatures stay above freezing until around Halloween in order to break its record for latest freeze date: Oct. 28, set in 1940.

The NWS in Riverton’s long-term forecast discussion suggests some possibility of a cold front moving in next Tuesday but indicates variation between different weather models and a lack of certainty as to what exactly will occur that far out.

Average freeze dates and records for Casper and other communities in the NWS in Riverton’s forecast region are shown in the following table:


NOTE: A previous version of this story said the earliest freeze on record occurred on Oct. 23, 2015, in Casper. That has been corrected to say Aug. 23, 2015.