Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey has lived and worked in Jackson Hole since 1982 and has forecasted, studied, and written about Jackson Hole’s weather for over 30 years.
This presentation will explore Jackson Hole’s weather history, beginning with when the earliest weather observations began, to where our local climate stations are located. It will also discuss how those observations are recorded and what has changed over the years, both in instrumentation and station location.
From all the available weather data, spanning about 100 years, we can construct a historical picture of the averages and the extremes of weather that have occurred in the Jackson Hole Valley. What were the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded? When was it wettest or driest? What were the biggest storms and the biggest snowfalls?
The distinction will be made between what is weather and what is climate and how they are connected. It is from all the daily weather observations that are recorded over time that we establish our averages, or what we consider to be “normal” conditions. It is those averages or normals by which we judge the trends in our local climate.
A complete picture of Jackson’s entire weather history will be presented along with the current trends in temperature, precipitation, and snowfall. So, if you lived in Jackson Hole for a lifetime or just a few years, this presentation should provide you with a more comprehensive perspective on both the weather and climate of this unique location.