Episode Details

If you were planning to drive the Beartooth Highway before it shuts for the winter, this weekend’s forecast is already getting in the way. The snowfall forecast covers the high ground of western Wyoming and northern Alaska, and the totals are smaller and far more concentrated than a colored map suggests. NWS Riverton has up to 4 inches on Cloud Peak in the Bighorns and nothing at all on almost every highway pass in Wyoming. NWS Fairbanks has 1 to 3 inches on Atigun Pass, the only place in this forecast where accumulating snow is expected on a road used by trucks.

What Riverton’s Snow Map Actually Says

Riverton runs an experimental probabilistic snowfall product that breaks the forecast down location by location, and the run issued at 7:16 a.m. ET Friday is valid from 8 a.m. ET Friday through 8 a.m. ET Monday.

Cloud Peak in the Bighorns carries the largest number in the state: 3 inches expected and 4 at the high end, with a 95 percent chance of measurable snow and a 54 percent chance of clearing 2 inches. Francs Peak in the Shoshone National Forest comes in at 2 inches expected. Gannett Peak in the Wind Rivers shows 1 inch and the strongest probability on the board at 98 percent.

The accumulation stops there. Togwotee Pass on US 26/287, South Pass and both Yellowstone entrances all read zero, along with every town in the forecast area.

Beartooth Pass Is The One Wyoming Road With A Real Chance Of Snow

Beartooth Pass is the exception to the zeros, with half an inch expected and a 59 percent chance of measurable snow. That would be a rounding error anywhere else in September. US 212 crosses the pass at 10,947 feet, and WYDOT already shut the segment from the Long Lake barricade to the Montana state line at 5 p.m. on September 10, on a forecast of three inches and gusts to 55 mph.

The one way through to Cooke City is WY 296 over the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, which Riverton has at zero this weekend.

Alaska Puts 1 To 3 Inches On Atigun Pass

The NWS Fairbanks forecast discussion issued at 6:24 p.m. ET Thursday has “accumulations of 1-3 for parts of the Brooks Range, including Atigun pass Friday evening through early Saturday morning.” Atigun sits at Mile Post 244 of the Dalton Highway and crosses the Continental Divide at 4,739 feet, the highest year-round maintained pass in the state, and September traffic over it is trucks running to Deadhorse rather than tourists.

Further west, forecasters have snow showers in the Bering Strait and the higher ground of the Seward Peninsula from Friday night through Saturday. “Snow could be heavy at times, and minor snow accumulations will be possible even at sea level,” the discussion reads. “The locations that will see the highest amounts will be those above 1000ft in the Seward Peninsula.”

That line matters for the three gravel highways out of Nome. Kougarok Road runs 86 miles north through the Kigluaik Mountains, which includes terrain above 1,000 feet, and Alaska DOT&PF does not maintain it beyond Milepost 13 in winter. The department’s guidance on those roads is blunt: “Travel is strongly discouraged for your safety.”

Before You Drive

Studded tires became legal again on Wednesday north of the 60th parallel.

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