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<title>🚧 Bonus Video 2: Monday, December 2, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bonus Video 2: Monday, December 2, 2024

 Man asked what he would do if someone broke into his house with the intention of hurting his family.....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Public Lands

Wyoming’s fire season is in full swing, and an incoming cold front is poised to potentially make things worse. Then, it could make things a lot better for those fighting the state’s active wildfires.

As of Thursday, the Red Canyon Fire, the largest active wildfire in Wyoming, has 

 in the southeastern corner of the Bighorn Basin and is 31% contained. 

Other active incidents include the Bull Lake Fire (525 acres), Sleeper Ranch Fire (20,657 acres) and the Spring Creek Fire (3,594 acres).

Fire restrictions have been enacted throughout Wyoming, including Yellowstone National Park, as summer heat and low precipitation continue to dry out the parched landscape.

Now, an incoming cold front is poised to stir up more trouble for firefighters and communities already threatened by wildfires. Once it has moved on, it will be followed by the first taste of 

How could a cold front be worse for wildfires?

“It's one of those things where it's bad at first and then it gets better afterward,” explained Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day. “There’s a good pattern of higher humidity, cooler temperatures, and scattered showers behind the front. We’ve just got to suffer through the front first.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cold Beats Hot?"}]

The incoming cold front will descend into Wyoming from Montana on Thursday, Day said, adding that it will announce its arrival with strong, gusty winds. 

“The first areas to see the front will be Sheridan, Buffalo and Gillette down to Casper on Thursday,” he said. “It’s already starting to cool off up there. Then, the front will start to sneak into other parts of the state overnight and on Friday.”

The Bighorns will “blunt the impact” of the cold front, at least initially, funneling it southward until it spreads across central Wyoming. However, it will find its way into the Bighorn Basin and the acreage being impacted by the Red Canyon Fire.

Day described the impact of cold fronts on wildfires as “a double-edged sword.” It won’t only bring more wind but fundamentally change the character of the wind as it moves through.

“A change in the wind direction may help (the firefighters), because it may push the fire back on itself,” he said. “But they’ll have to change how they attack the fire because there will be erratic winds over the whole fire, and it's certainly going to switch wind directions around and cause some gustiness.”

Day doesn’t anticipate a lot of wind in the Bighorn Basin from this cold front. The region won’t be wholly unaffected but should be spared the worst of the gusty winds.

Once the front has passed, the atmosphere will change in favor of the firefighters: cooler temperatures, more humid air, and a higher chance of precipitation.

“Air with higher humidity helps cool things off, and could bring a little bit of shower activity,” Day said. “Looking at the radar today, there's a little bit of shower activity moving off the Wind River Range today, which might bring some showers and thunderstorms in the area on Thursday afternoon.”

The potential of afternoon thunderstorms is its own double-edged sword.

A lightning strike from an afternoon thunderstorm sparked the Red Canyon Fire on Aug. 13. More lightning strikes, aided by erratic winds from the incoming cold front, could fan and spread the flames.

“In those circumstances, you don’t get to pick your poison,” Day said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Barricaded Basin"}]

Getting enough precipitation to aid or extinguish a Wyoming wildfire is hard enough in August, but it’s especially difficult in the Bighorn Basin. It’s one of the persistently driest places in the entire state.

“Some places in the Bighorn Basin average between seven and eight inches of rain a year, tops,” Day said. “That’s barely above what’s considered a desert climate. It's a naturally dry area and hard to get anything to precipitate.”

Any weather that descends upon Wyoming must overcome significant barriers to breach the Bighorn Basin. Day said the mountain ranges surrounding the basin deflect a lot of precipitation from going up and over into the interior and remove a lot of moisture from anything able to surmount the summits.

“If a storm's coming in from the west, the air sinks as it’s coming off the Absarokas and Wind Rivers,” Day said. “That's a chinooking effect, which dries the air out in the Bighorn Basin.”

Chinook winds are prevailing warm, westerly winds generated by the warming of air that has lost most of its moisture. These conditions create turbulent winds, 

especially in Wyoming’s mountainous areas

According to Day, there’s nowhere for moisture-rich air to turn when it reaches the Bighorn Basin. No matter where it’s coming from, there’s a sizeable wall of rock ready to chinook it dry.

“If a front comes in from the Northeast, like the one arriving this week, the Bighorns block it,” he said. “If the front gets over the Bighorns, it's chinooking down into the basin. If a storm comes in from the north, it's chinooking off the Beartooths, the Pryors, and the north side of the Bighorns. If it comes up from the south, it’s chinooking off the Owl Creek Mountains between Thermopolis and Riverton. It’s hard to get rain into the Bighorn Basin.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Winter Is Coming"}]

Despite the initial onslaught of gusty winds from the incoming cold front, Day said the extended forecast following the front looks promising. Even the Bighorn Basin could benefit.

“There might be some liquid sunshine spreading into the area where the Red Canyon Fire is burning,” he said. “The best chance would be late in the weekend and early next week, so fingers crossed.”

his extended forecast for the upcoming fall and winter

. Based on current trends in the Pacific Ocean, historical data, and long-range computer modelling, Day expects a colder, snowier winter for most of Wyoming.

This cold front is a herald of the seasonal changes right around the corner. Once this front moves on, Wyomingites will feel the first touch of fall.

“A large part of the eastern side of the state will only reach highs in the 60s and 70s on Monday and Tuesday,” he said. “That’s low for August, and I think it's an indication of more to come this fall.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Pick Your Poison"}]

There are more than 600 personnel responding to the Red Canyon Fire. Fire managers are looking forward to any assistance the incoming cold front will bring to the Bighorn Basin, especially the anticipated 10 to 15-degree drop in morning temperatures.

Nevertheless, there’s also the concern of more afternoon thunderstorms that are too dry to produce precipitation but potent with lightning. Day encouraged the firefighters to keep their spirits up – even if it’s erratically windy in the short-term, everything’s looking better in the long-term.

“Would you rather have six days in a row of 100-degree temperatures and no chance of rain,” he said, “or a couple of days of erratic winds and four or five days of higher humidity and better conditions that will suppress fire growth? Ultimately, that’s what they want and that’s what we’ll get going into Friday and the weekend.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Devils tower 8 21 25

<title>🚧 Cold Front To Bring Relief For Wildfires, But First It Will Make Things Worse | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming’s fire season is in full swing, and an incoming cold front is poised to potentially make things worse, temporarily. Then, it could make things a lot better: cooler temperatures, more humid air, and a higher chance of precipitation.

Cold Front To Bring Relief For Wildfires, But First It Will Make Things Worse

Candy moulton 4 16 24

Candy Moulton

Wyoming Life

Sports

That awful moment during the 1989 Cheyenne Frontier Days Finals when Takin’ Care of Business tossed bull rider Lane Frost into the air, then hit him in the ribs with a horn that killed the rodeo star, is still keenly felt by the doctor who treated him.

Most of the men riding bulls today weren’t born when Frost died, but they all owe him and know they are safer in the arena because of what happened at Cheyenne 34 years ago.

On July 30, 1989, a cool, rainy day, Frost rode Takin’ Care of Business, scoring an 85. But he had a poor dismount that put him in front of the bull, which stepped on his chaps and hooked the young cowboy with a horn to the ribs.

After the blow, Frost rose from the arena dirt, took a few steps and motioned to the sidelines that he was hurt before he collapsed face down.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"He Couldn’t Fix It"}]

Dr. Skip Ross was the first responder to attend Frost after the bull pounded into him.

[{"type":"text","text":"Frost had broken ribs that tore through his heart."}]

Still visibly moved by recalling the events of that fateful day, Ross now quietly says he knows the injury was something “you couldn’t fix.” But he tried for 90 minutes before reluctantly agreeing with other members of the medical team that Frost was gone.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘A Terrible Deal All Around’"}]

Parker Breding of Edgar, Montana, who qualified for the semifinals at CFD with his bull ride on Wednesday, wasn’t born when Frost made his last ride in Cheyenne, but Breding has often heard of the day from his parents. His father, Scott Breding is a five-time NFR qualifier who often competed against Frost.

“Dad was actually there that day when Lane got killed,” Breding said. “It was one of those terrible deals. My mom didn’t know, they just said a bull rider got killed, she didn’t know who it was.

“And back then you had to use pay phones. And he didn’t get to call home for quite a while, so that was a pretty scary deal, just a terrible deal all around.”

Breding said his mother “sat by the phone all night long until he was able to call her. She got the news she wanted, but somebody else didn’t. It was just a terrible day.”

“I grew up watching Lane Frost. … So that’s pretty much how I learned how to ride bulls,” J.B. Mauney, one of the most successful riders in the sport, said Thursday before he prepared for his own ride on Two Socks. “It was unfortunate it happened here. But it kind of trademarks it for bull riders.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sparked Action"}]

Frost’s friend and traveling partner Cody Lambert developed a protective vest that the bull riders started wearing “and that’s saved me a bunch of times,” Mauney said. “It’s unfortunate that things like (Frost’s death) have to happen to turn it around and get something like that, but you know it’s all a part of the game.”

Mauney, who rode some of the rankest bulls in the sport during his years with the PBR, made history in 2016 as the first bull rider to reach the $7 million mark in career earnings.

He retired from PBR two years ago and started riding in the PRCA, earning a trip to the National Finals in Las Vegas his first year in pro rodeo.

He said Frost’s death had a profound effect on the bull riders because, “It got them to wear the vests.”

The doctor and cowboys agree that a vest might have prevented Frost’s injury from being fatal, and more important that in the years since, the protective gear has kept other cowboys from severe injury.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Still A Reminder’"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Most bull riders also wear helmets instead of cowboy hats."}]

Ross said all high school bull riders are required to wear helmets. That means they learn to ride and balance their body with the headgear on, so they continue wearing a helmet when they advance to college and pro ranks.

But Frost’s accident is “still a reminder to bull riders that the sport is dangerous,” said Breding, a four-time NFR qualifier. “It’s dangerous, we all know that. We’re all just riding on God’s time and asking for his protection when we’re doing this.”

But cowboys also take care of themselves, and Breding said after Lambert came out with the leather vests for guys to wear his dad was one of the first to wear one. 

“Thank God that we have those, because they’ve prevented a lot of bad things,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘8 Seconds’"}]

The movie “8 Seconds” about Frost’s life — starring Luke Perry as Frost, Stephen Baldwin as Tuff Hedeman, Red Mitchell as Lambert and Cynthia Geary as Lane’s wife, Kellie Kyle Frost — grossed more than $19 million at the box office and inspired a generation of bull riders.

For River Mossberg of Cheyenne, who competed in bull riding in high school rodeo but has not yet at the college or professional levels, “8 Seconds” was an inspiration.

“It was a movie that was around and always in the movie case,” he said, adding the film was a “good story with a good meaning behind it.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Mossberg’s goal is to ride at Cheyenne Frontier Days someday."}]

Bull riding is a culture unto itself. The boys who do it usually start when they are little as mutton busters (riding sheep), then they ride calves and steers before finally getting on bulls.

One little boy in the cowboy ready area at CFD on Thursday, wearing his chaps, boots and cowboy hat, had his own bull rope.

As the cowboys prepared for their rides, he wrapped his bull rope around the seat of a picnic table and practiced his own riding. No doubt, he was dreaming just like Mossberg of one day getting on a bucking bull and hearing the announcer call his name as he enters the arena at Cheyenne Frontier Days for an 8-second ride.

“Champion Lane Frost” a 15-foot tall, monumental bronze sculpture by Casper artist Chris Navarro, is a permanent memorial to the bull rider and the location where “behind-the-scenes” chute tours begin during CFD.

It stands in front of the CFD Old West Museum, which has its own tribute to Frost.

Lane frost 1989

<title>🚧 34-Years Ago Sunday, Lane Frost Died At Cheyenne Frontier Days, Cowboys Remember | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It’s been 34 years since Lane Frost’s last bull ride at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 30, 1989. This week, bull riders in Cheyenne remembered Frost and what he means to the sport.

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