Above: Boise Corral this week. Note no high ground or shelters to get up out of the mud or out of rain, wind or snow.
New Year’s week brings not only deep freezes but also active storm systems and low‑visibility hazards over and around BLM’s wild horse and burro holding facilities.
Before the debate begins on weather it is worth stating that in the wild horses and burros can move to find shelter. They can shelter from wind by using terrain and get up out of runoff and deep snow and mud.
In fact, “terrain does not offer shelter from the elements” is one of the reasons BLM has used to “zero out” a Herd Management Area (HMA) and revert to an Herd Area (HA) meaning “designated for horse and burro use but not managed.”
Adopters are required by BLM to provide shelter. But BLM themselves ONLY make the claim that wild horses and burros do not need shelter when it comes to their own holding facilities.
Storm systems
A series of Pacific storms is forecast to sweep across the Sierra and western Great Basin from New Year’s Eve into the first weekend of January, affecting facilities tied to the Reno, Susanville, and Burns corridors.
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The National Weather Service Reno highlights a “quick moving storm” late Wednesday into New Year’s Day bringing rain to lower valleys and snow at higher elevations, followed by a stronger storm Friday into the weekend with heavy mountain snow, strong ridge winds, and rising runoff on the Susan River.
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Northeast California—including the Susanville area—is under messaging for a “breezy and wet/snowy mess on area roads” through New Year’s, as snow levels fluctuate with each wave. This means the corrals that offer no shelter are a “wet/snowy mess.”
Freezing fog, inversions, and air stagnation
Strong valley inversions and stagnant air are persisting around western Nevada basins, trapping cold air and setting up conditions where freezing fog can form around Reno‑area corrals and low‑lying sites. The wild horses and burros in the corrals cannot moveout of harms way.
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The Reno forecast discussion notes “strong valley inversions and air stagnation” into Wednesday morning, with very cold air settled in the lowest basins even while higher elevations briefly warm, exactly the setup for dense, freezing fog pockets over pens and access roads.
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Under these inversions, daytime highs may briefly reach the 30s or low 40s in valley cities, but surfaces and trough edges can stay below freezing, so fog, drizzle, or light freezing rain can glaze gates, rails, and waterers in holding facilities.
New Year’s Eve and the first days of January bring a mix of freezing nights, morning fog, and passing snow or rain bands to the BLM sites in Boise (ID), Rock Springs (WY), Reno/Fallon/Winnemucca (NV), Litchfield (CA), Ridgecrest (CA), Burns (OR), and Delta (UT).
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Boise, Idaho’s December 31 forecast calls for cloudy, cold conditions with temperatures dropping near or below freezing overnight and a developing pattern of snow changing to rain as the next system arrives, keeping pens wet, slick, and wind‑exposed.
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Rock Springs, Wyoming stays locked in mid‑winter cold with forecast highs around the freezing mark and lows well below it, under mainly clear skies that encourage radiational cooling and bitter wind chills on the open plateau.
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Burns, Oregon and the surrounding high desert sit in the path of the same New Year’s storm train affecting northeast Oregon, with forecast graphics showing repeated snow/rain chances and sub‑freezing nights for rangeland and corrals.
These storm and fog patterns add new layers of stress atop already harsh temperatures for confined horses and burros.
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Freezing fog and inversions can leave animals standing in saturated, icy air for hours, with coats collecting rime while pens remain locked under cloud and stagnant cold, even when nearby ridges briefly warm. Horses are obligate nasal breathers making freezing fog dangerous as it is drawn through the nasal passages into the lungs.
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As storms bring bursts of rain or snow over frozen ground, mud, standing water, and ice combine with wind to magnify the chill, making windbreaks, dry footing, and reliable, unfrozen water sources a life‑and‑death buffer for the New Year’s week in BLM holding. The health of the foot literally is “life and death” for equines.
Welfare issues are compounded when there are no public eyes pushing for accountability. Over the last 15 years every new holding facility approved is now off-limits to public view, but paid through public taxpayer dollars.
BLM dropped the ball and never completed any review of welfare standards or formalized welfare rules. Read more here.
However, the Secretary of Interior could simply create a Directive to BLM to complete the promise of truly formalizing welfare standards and provide the public the opportunity to participate that was promised. The Secretary has always held this power and has never exercised that authority.
You can sign onto our letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum by clicking HERE.
As the old year comes to an end we renew our commitment to keeping our wild ones wild and protecting captives from abuses.
Thank you for standing with Wild Horse Education at the close of this difficult, pivotal year. Together, we can make sure that what came to light in 2025 and the lawsuits begun lead to real change in 2026—for every wild horse and burro captive or free on our public lands.