Wyoming’s famous wind plays into Cowboy State life in many ways. Locals learn to live with it while visitors, especially those just driving through, can get downright terrified being caught up in it.
For residents, it makes people think about the little things that can keep parts of your house from being torn off by an 80 mph gust.
For example, keeping a storm door intact in Wyoming may mean spending more for quality materials and using a longer screw to install it.
Windsocks sit beside highways where semis and other high-profile vehicles are subject to road closures when wind speeds are greater than 50 mph. And those closures happen often, especially along Interstates 80 and 25.
Hangar doors at Casper/Natrona International Airport stay closed when wind gusts hit 55 knots, which is approximately 63 mph.
The most powerful wind gust ever recorded in Wyoming was in the town of Clark in April 2022. On that day, the wind hit 128 mph, the National Weather Service says.
In November 2022, a gust of 111 mph tore a 4,000-pound trailer right off its truck hitch and tossed it off the road in Red Canyon.
Wyoming Water Resources Data System & State Climate Office Director Tony Bergantino, whose agency has installed 21 weather centers across the state to track soil moisture, temperature and wind in collaboration with the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office, has his own perspective.
“I can’t think off the top of my head of something I would say that is unique about Wyoming wind except it is there all the time,” he said.
Bergantino said Wyoming’s wind is mainly a result of its geography as is the strength of the winds in certain parts of the states. He said gaps in the mountain ranges are what cause the wind to funnel through southern Wyoming, sometimes creating blow-over risks for high-profile vehicles.
“The I-80 corridor seems to pick up quite a bit of it,” he said.
Wind Closures On I-80
The Wyoming Department of Transportation website shows wind issues the past few years at their worst in January and February.
In January 2024, I-80 was closed to high-profile vehicles for 6.22% of the time compared to 2.10% of the time for passenger vehicles. A WYDOT spokesperson said that the difference typically represents wind issues. In 2023, I-80 was closed 14.48% of the time in January to commercial vehicles versus 11.34% to passenger vehicles.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol’s website states that three fatal crashes of 103 in 2024 had severe wind as a factor. In 2023, four fatal crashes out of 121 involved severe wind.
The University of Wyoming’s website lists the state’s wind resource as seventh among the contiguous states with the ability to create 747 billion kilowatt-hour per year of wind energy potential, enough to power up 66 million homes annually.
Wind has power, for good and bad.
Bergantino said certain areas of the state experience wind in greater measure than others. Arlington along the I-80 corridor and Casper in the center of the state are among the areas where it sometimes seems constant.
Insurance Claims
Jim Waldron of Farmers Insurance in Casper has 20 years of experience dealing with home and auto claims in region. For homes, wind, hail and water are the typical reasons he gets a call. Wind represents the majority of the three.
Most wind claims involve a roof or fence. Sometimes it is a tree blowing on a roof, other times just a roof that has gotten old.
“The older the roof the weaker it gets, so the wind can start to lift shingles,” he said. Once the integrity of the shingles is compromised, hail and moisture can get in and cause leaks leading to water damage to walls, sheet rock, and paneling below the roof.
He said older wooden fences also often are victims of big winds that occur in the area.
“I’ve got friends who have big houses in Arizona and they say how come my insurance is higher here?” he said. “Well, you don’t have wind or hail in Mesa, Arizona. If you eliminate wind and hail, then absolutely your insurance is less expensive because there is no claim.”
Waldron said in his two decades as an agent, he has had a couple of claims involving car doors being yanked by the wind. A person will open a door and the wind will catch it and spring it wide open.
“We don’t see it very often,” he said. What does happen is that the wind will sandblast the windshield and car paint job creating little pits that require repair.
An airplane was flipped over by high winds at Casper/Natrona International Airport in 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
Wyoming features windsocks along the highway as well as at the airport. Strong wind gusts can topple high profile vehicles. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Strong winds and gusts can make it dangerous for high-profile vehicles and semitrailers driving on Wyoming's interstates. (Wyoming Highway Patrol) 
Without being covered, strong winds and gusts could wreak havoc on hay stored outdoors. (Courtesy Photo) 
Wyoming's strong and consistent winds often alter how trees grow. (Courtesy Photo)
Hangar Doors Close At 55 Knots
At Casper/Natrona County International airport, pilot and apprentice mechanic Dalton Butler at Atlas Aero Service said wind issues can affect their day and sometimes leads to more business.
Last year, a plane flipped over in the wind following a landing at the airport. But that is the exception.
Butler said at the airport, Atlas Aero staff often straps planes down on the tarmac. As a pilot, he said the crosswinds are not a huge issue landing because the airport has two runways — it only becomes an issue when a pilot has to make a 90-degree turn off the runway and the full strength of the wind hits the wings from the side.
As a mechanic, he ties down planes out of precaution. He also follows his company’s wind-based rules about opening the hangar doors and towing planes.
“There are limits in terms of the wind speed in which we can open our doors,” he said. If velocity hits 55 knots, the doors have to stay closed. Tow limits for aircraft are about the same.
Butler said there is not a particular season where the wind is an issue more than others and there are days when it’s not a factor.
But then he adds that, “Pretty regularly you have to adjust your day according to the wind.”
At Gordon’s Windows And Doors in Casper, owner Gordon Milne said they get calls “quite often” from people who have a storm door taken off by the wind — typically in the spring. He recommends buying better quality doors with strong hinges and installs them with a special technique.
“We will use the factory screws on framing but when we hook up the hydraulic closures, which are what is really holding the door, we over drill through the doorjamb and have a screw that will actually reach back to the stud so if the wind does catch it hard enough, it breaks the screw off back to stud rather than ripping off the door jam,” he said.
Tame Start To 2025
Data from the monitoring stations installed by Bergantino’s agency show the start of the year relatively tame in terms of wind, but it seems to be picking up.
Bergantino said while the weather stations put in place since 2020 are there primarily for moisture and snowpack information related to agriculture, the wind information is something they plan to study and analyze.
Even with all the headaches Wyoming’s strong winds can cause, he said he sees one benefit.
“It’s pretty nice in mosquito season,” he said. “You can get those mosquitoes off you.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
