Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

I have to give Mother Nature the nod as the top story in 2017.

Mother Nature was critical to several top stories in Washakie County and the Big Horn Basin.

First there were the ice jams in February that flooded parts of west Worland. Mother Nature was responsible for the ice forming, the fast melting and the development of the sandbar that created the logjam of ice right in front of Rotary Riverside Park. We had to wait on Mother Nature for the ice jam to unjam.

As ice is beginning to form on the Big Horn River it doesn’t look to be as bad as last year, plus several agencies took away the sandbar to hopefully avoid any flooding from ice jams in the near future.

Mother Nature also dried out everything and created multiple fire fuels and fire hazards so fire departments were busy, especially in the Hidden Dome area fighting wildland fires. Fires around Cody, Montana and Idaho created a lot of smoke as well that we had to endure in the summer.

During the summer there was also a reported touchdown of a tornado in Big Horn County.

Then there were the acts of God, or things from His creation, including the total solar eclipse in August that also topped the news stories for 2017. Wyoming saw an influx of more than 200,000 people and Thermopolis seeing some increase in traffic as they were in the path of totality.

And, in the early fall, another act of God brought us a minor earthquake southeast of Ten Sleep in the Big Trails area, a magnitude 4.2.

Let’s also not forget, while we were not directly hit by the hurricanes, there were former Worland residents who endured flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey so lives in the Basin were touched by the hurricanes.

But there was also people making news in 2017 — some businesses closed but new businesses opened or expanded; the school districts, cities and counties had to deal with budget cuts due to a drop in funding from the state; Worland saw a new mayor sworn in, Thermopolis saw a groundbreaking for a new dinosaur museum and the Banner Health Washakie Medical Center construction was completed.

It was a busy and eventful year in 2017.

Looking ahead to 2018, it’s hard to predict what Mother Nature will do, besides ring in the new year with bitter cold temperatures.

We can look ahead though and see that 2018 election year could be the biggest story. County offices will be on the ballot, as well as some city council seats, but all five top elected officials at the state level will be on the ballot.

Senator John Barrasso’s seat is up and there is already people announcing to challenge him. Rep. Liz Cheney will likely be seeking a second term to her U.S. House seat.

It will be an interesting year for politics.

The great thing about a new year, though, is you never know what it will bring. I’m looking forward to a new year, new beginnings and we here at the Northern Wyoming Daily News will be looking forward to chronicling all of the events (manmade or from Mother Nature) for our readers.

Happy New Year, let’s make 2018 a memorable one.