Wyoming will continue to stay under a heavy blanket of snow throughout Tuesday, Oct. 12. Forecasts for the Bighorn Basin call for anywhere from seven to thirteen inches of snow before the storm ends Tuesday night.
There is one definite benefit to this sudden influx of winter. Heavy snow may finally quelch the Crater Ridge Fire in Bighorn National Forest as it burns into its third month.
The Crater Ridge Fire was down but not out in September. Thanks to warm weather and strong winds, the fire slowly increased in growth, threatening to reach 8,000 acres in size. These numbers show the stubbornness of the Crater Ridge Fire. While containment has stayed at 70% since early September, the fire has slowly increased in size. In the last two weeks, the Crater Ridge Fire grew over 300 acres.
Nevertheless, fire activity within the main blaze has been categorized as active but not aggressive for some time. The exact cause of the fire is unknown but suspected to be a lightning strike.