JACKSON, Wyo. — There’s no need to panic about the weather this winter quite yet, local meteorologist Jim Woodmencey told Buckrail on Wednesday.
Though the warm temperatures and absence of precipitation might seem strange, Woodmencey said that the valley’s residents have become accustomed to above-average snowfall in recent winters. Eight of the last 15 winters have made the list of the snowiest on record at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR), he said. He still feels confident about the snowpack at high elevations, though that percentage will start to drop if February doesn’t see an uptick in snowfall.
“I always say this: It’s extremes that make our averages,” Woodmencey said.
The final totals for January are in, and the stats aren’t as far off the average mark as one might think. First up: Temperature. Woodmencey described the three ways to measure average temperature in a month: average high, average low, and overall monthly mean, which is the average of the average high and the average low. January 2026 saw a monthly mean temperature of 18.9°F. The historic average mean for January is 15.5°F. The warmest January on record occurred in 1953, when the monthly mean was 30.2°F. But yearly temperature averages flip-flop somewhat regularly. Other Januarys with a warmer monthly mean temperature than this year include 2020, 2018 and 2006. And from all the available data, Woodmencey said that the coldest overall year on record was 2019.
Woodmencey then discussed monthly precipitation and snowfall. Precipitation is an aggregate of rainfall plus the liquid equivalent of snow and ice. January saw 1.14 inches of precipitation, which is below the historic average of 1.43 inches. Last year, January only received 0.36 inches of precipitation. The monthly amount of snowfall seen this year is about half of the historic monthly average, at 9.1 inches. The town of Jackson sees about 18.5 inches of snowfall on average in January, but in 2025, town only had 4.2 inches of snowfall in the first month.
“People are getting all worked up about a dry January,” Woodmencey joked, “and they can’t even remember last year.”
According to Woodmencey, snow depths around 9,600 feet in elevation are close to normal, with 73 inches of settled snow measured on Jan. 28. On that date last year, the same site had only 58 inches of snow. Buckrail meteorologist Alan Smith said that JHMR’s Rendezvous Bowl Plot did not see any measurable snowfall for 14 days straight. This is tied for the sixth-longest dry streak in the Tetons in winter, and was the longest pattern since 2004.
“One difference between this January and others is that the pattern almost totally shut off after January 9,” Smith wrote in an email. “And by this upcoming Monday [Feb. 9], we will have gone almost an entire month with virtually no precipitation in town (I’ve measured 0.01 inch of precipitation in town since January 9). Having this long a duration with almost no precipitation in the valley is very unusual.”
Snowfall at low elevations is far below average, Smith said, with the base of JHMR and the Moran weather station near Jackson Lake both seeing their lowest snow depth on record for Feb. 4.
According to Woodmencey, the worst example was 1964 when January did not see any snowfall, nor was there snow on the valley floor the whole month. The winter of 1976/77 was a “total bust” for the ski resort. That year, Jackson Hole Ski Area owner Paul McCollister resorted to cloud seeding, which cost $4,000 per week.
“Right now, we’re still pretty good, at least in northwest Wyoming,” Woodmencey said. “No sense to panic about it just yet. A dry winter doesn’t portend a dry summer.”
