Strong Winds Overnight Even By Wyoming Standards
Did the wind wake you last night?
If I'm writing an article on how windy Wyoming is, IT'S WINDY!
So much so that the big dumpster at this radio station rolled away.
This, as you know, is ahead of a big winter storm that will arrive later Tuesday and batter the state through Wednesday.
Expect high winds, heavy snow, and sub-zero temperatures.
So let's take a look at what might have woken you last night.
Below is a screenshot from the app/website WINDY.
This program doesn't just give you the numbers, it shows you what's happening.
In this first picture, we can see that really only Wyoming is affected by this wind storm.
I don't know about you but I feel picked on.
Now let's zoom in.
These pictures were taken at 2:30 am, as I literally blew into work.
I had the wind at my back most of the way. WOW, did I save a lot of gas?
What you're looking at are the sustained winds. Not the gusts.
These sustained winds were over 30mph to 35mph in most areas.
A little higher in some spots.
The green and the blue are areas where mountains shadowed what was blowing.
But mountains can also increase the wind speed as that air pressure tries to blow in between them.
It's like a finger over the open and of a garden hose. Watch that water spirt out.
Here is a screenshot of sustained winds.
It's the gusts that wake you at night.
The gusts move dumpsters, tip over trucks, and cause whitecaps on our Wyoming lakes.
This next picture shows the wind gust which in some areas was just a little over 60mph.
Ever wonder where the animals hide when the wind is this bad?
Some burrow underground.
Some bigger animals look for ditches and cracks in the landscape to hide in. Maybe on the leeward side of a hill.
I wonder what the small birds do.
Here is what that wind gusts up to 60mph look like.
So if you woke up last night wondering WHAT THE...
Now you can see what was going on.
The good news is that Wyoming is high enough in altitude that there is less air to move around.
This would feel a lot worse if our state was at sea level.