‘It’s Carnage’: Wyoming Wind Gusts Up To 109MPH Blow Over Trucks, Rip Off Roofs

Winds gusting up to 109 mph, creating brownout conditions by blowing loose dirt and gravel, have knocked over dozens of semitrailers across Wyoming, including more than 10 between Cheyenne and the state line with Colorado.

“This is at the top end of about how bad it can get,” Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said about the Thursday windstorm that’s brought sustained winds into the lower 60 mph range.

Measured gusts are just under 90 mph in many places in southeast Wyoming, he said, which seems to be getting the brunt of the windstorm.

The National Weather Service’s Cheyenne office, meanwhile, said it has received reports of a 109-mph gust between Laramie and Centennial in the Snowy Range. 

National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Natoli said a weather watcher 5 miles west of Chugwater reported a gust of 95 mph. 

Those aren’t official because the Weather Service can’t confirm them. 

Even so, Day said he believes there could be gusts topping 100 mph, but so far those haven’t registered on any of the official weather monitoring stations. 

A 94-mph gust at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Cheyenne is the highest official measurement, he said. In comparison, Category 1 strength hurricanes have sustained winds of between 74 mph and 95 mph.

Day explained that Thursday’s windstorm is bad because it’s producing high sustained winds with gusts strong enough to cause considerable damage.

“What’s bad about this is, when you have sustained 50 mph-plus winds — then you get those gusts — it makes these turbulent eddies that make them so destructive.

“This definitely is not your typical windstorm,” Day added. “This is bad.”

Driving around west Cheyenne on Thursday morning, Day said he’s seen numerous trees uprooted and other damage caused by the wind, which knocked out power across much of the city for various lengths of time.

“There’s a ton of damage,” he said. “It’s carnage.”

Truckers Aren’t Going Anywhere

As Wyoming residents hunker down to ride out the windstorm, which is forecast to continue into Friday, but not quite as strong, long-haul truckers are stuck waiting for roads to open.

Interstate 80 is closed to commercial trucks basically from Nebraska to Utah because of the risk of blowovers, as is Interstate 25 from the Colorado border north to I-90, the Wyoming Department of Transportation reports.

In Cheyenne, a blown-over semitrailer closed northbound Highway 85, while southbound I-25 was littered with at least a dozen overturned commercial trucks between the city limits and the state line.

At the Love’s Travel Center truck stop off Exit 7 along I-25, truckers were parked tightly packed together to shield themselves from the wind and ride out the storm.

That included Reginald Joseph, a long-haul trucker from Alabama driving a load to Washington state.

He said he’s never seen anything like the 90 mph wind gusts that have him grounded in Cheyenne for at least the rest of Thursday.

“Man, this is bad. Like, wow. I can’t believe this wind,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It wasn’t bad until, like, you hit the border (with Colorado). Then, it was almost like you crossed a line and, bam, the wind rocks you.”

And an independent contractor, Joseph said any time he spends not driving is lost money. But he’s not willing to even consider driving in wind like Thursday’s.

“The wind is more difficult for tractor-trailers because of how high they are,” he said. “The wind goes up under it. No, I’m not taking no chances. I’ll sit here until tomorrow. I can’t deal with this type of weather. 

“It affects my money, but I always can make more money back. But my life is more important. It’s way more important.”

‘No Way I’m Risking It’

At Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4343 along Highway 85 just south of Cheyenne, regulars will have to find a new watering hole for a while.

That’s because one of those nearly 90 mph wind gusts tore the roof off the building.

“The roof’s just gone,” said Stephanie Skutt, the post’s bar manager. “They won’t even let us in because there’s structural damage. We have to close until further notice.”

Skutt started getting calls from people who saw photos of the post’s broken roof in the parking lot, so she drove over from her home in Burns east of Cheyenne to assess the damage.

“Oh yeah, it’s windy there, too,” she said. “I’ve seen wind like this before, but not for a long while.”

Wyomingites may be used to wind, but this is over the top even for the Cowboy State, Day said.

Along with the VFW roof, residents are reporting that Thursday’s wind has blown down barns and damaged buildings across a large part of the state. 

Harvey DeSelms watched Thursday as the winds tore at the Cheyenne building that houses his art studio.

He said in the nearly 25 years he’s had his art studio there, he cannot remember a wind like he witnessed Thursday.

“You can’t print what I want to say (about the wind),” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It is … wow. There is not a descriptor I can print for it.”

“We have gusts come through,” he said, “but this steady relentless beating it’s giving us today is pretty unheard of.”

Until the wind dies down, Joseph said he’s not going to chance getting his truck back on the road, even though his load is due in Washington state on Friday.

“No way I’m risking it,” he said. “I’m terrified of that.”

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com and Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.