Jack Hales is a retired meteorologist living in the Star Valley Ranch area. Find his weather blog here – 

The winter of Star Valley has come to an abrupt end as near record warm temperatures usher in May. With a significant snowpack remaining in the mountains and even in the sheltered areas in the lower elevations, the concern now turns to runoff which will be substantial through the month of May.

Record amounts of snow were experienced at many areas of Star Valley.  Following are the observed winter snowfalls from communities across the Valley.

Both Afton and Bedford were record amounts.   Star Valley Ranch, with only 8 years of record, far exceeded the previous 2016-17 high of 250 inches.

Worthy of note examining Star Valley Ranch snowfall data was how each month from November through April were very snowy.  Snow cover of 2 inches observed on November 3rd remained on the ground through April(6 Months!) reaching maximum depth of 47 inches on both March 25th and April 5th. As of May 1st snow depth in sheltered areas of the Ranch were still near 2 feet. The snowiest day on the Ranch was January 27 when 12.5 inches fell.