Could a North Korean Nuclear Missile Hit Wyoming? Maybe

North Korea is in the news again and not in a good way. There are rumors they may be preparing another missile launch. That begs the question "could one of their nuclear-tipped missiles actually reach Wyoming"? The answer I've found is maybe.

CNN is reporting that the United States is preparing for what may be another missile test. It seems to me that many dismiss this threat as something that doesn't really affect them. But, does it? I did some deep digging and learned that there is a possibility of a missile affecting Wyoming.

There is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the missiles we know North Korea has. If you look at the breakdown of missiles, there are only a couple that could hypothetically hit Wyoming. One of the most troublesome is the Hwasong-15 which has an operational range of over 13,000 km. This missile was successfully tested back in November of 2017 according to Wikipedia so this is something to be concerned about.

On subjects as serious as this, I tend to not rely on just one site for info. The CSIS Missile Threat website says pretty much the same thing. It lists the Hwasong-15 as being more than capable of reaching Wyoming, plus the Hwasong-14 also appears to have a range that could reach us.

Is a nuclear-tipped missile from North Korea a realistic threat? It's hard to imagine a scenario like this playing itself out. But, it's good to remember that if things get crazy, we in Wyoming are not necessarily out of harm's way.