How To Gauge Wyoming Wind Speed By Looking At Nature

It's a windy day in Wyoming. Okay, it's almost always a windy day in Wyoming. But how windy? You can ask your phone... But if you want to have a little fun with it try these tricks.

So far I've posted an article on how to tell wind speed by looking at wind socks, and an article on how to tell by looking at flags. Let's look at the other signs around you.

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This information from the National Weather Service can help us out.

If smoke or steam is rising vertically, obviously it's calm.

If that smoke or steam is tilted just a bit you can tell that we have a little breeze. Look for grass and limbs rocking gently and ripples on water. That is about 1-3 mph winds.

If you feel a light brush on your face and you can see leaves gently rocking and people's hair moving then the wind is up to about 4-7 mph.

Leaves rustling, grass swaying, flags lifting. 8-12 mph.

Did you just see paper or dead leaves moving across the land? Did some dust get kicked up? 13-18 mph.

Small trees swaying. Branches moving on bigger trees. 19-24 mph.

Large branches of trees rocking. Waves of grass moving across the prairie. 25-31 mph.

The entire tree is rocking. Birds are calling it quits and looking for a place to take cover. 31-38 mph.

If the wind seems like it's angry with you and slapping your face around, it's above 38 mph. You can get mad but don't spit at it. That never works out.