Town weather sirens and firetruck engine rumbles echoing through the streets. Semi-trucks flipped over. Collapsed powerlines. Brush fires. Oil barrels, city garbage cans and wheelbarrows flying through the air.
This was the apocalyptic scene across many Wyoming towns on Thursday, thanks to a massive wind storm that rolled through the region.
“All these things typically have survived a lot of other wind events, but this one was enough to take them down,” said Michael Natoli, a meteorologist with Cheyenne’s National Weather Service (NWS). “So even by Wyoming standards, this was a pretty exceptionally strong wind event.”
Wind gusts of 109 miles per hour (mph) were clocked near Chugwater and Centennial, with sustained winds of 75 mph. That’s equivalent to a category 1 hurricane, which Natoli said isn’t easy to do on land.
“It is easier in general to get winds to be sustained over the open ocean when there's nothing, no trees, no rocks, no buildings to block it,” Natoli said.
There were reports of 90-plus mph gusts around Rock Springs and Casper. Natoli said the Cheyenne airport clocked a gust at 92 mph.
“Which was the strongest wind gust that has ever been measured at that weather station,” he said, noting the records go back about 30 years.
In downtown Cheyenne, Natoli said the sustained wind was 67 mph.
“Sustained [wind] in town, with trees and buildings, is pretty crazy, even for Wyoming,” he said.
Lander and Laramie were privy to at least 80 mph gusts. Fires were reported in both areas, but no injuries were reported. Temporary evacuations were in place southwest of Laramie and a structure was lost in Lander.
The severe winds also caused power outages in several places.
Lander’s more than 5,000 Rocky Mountain Power customers went dark for several hours around 6 p.m. High Plains Power customers in Lander, Ethete and Pavillion had a similar situation due to a transmission line emergency. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said it took 258 service calls on Thursday, even with phones down due to a power outage.
Around 1,400 Casper Rocky Mountain Power customers lost power, too. The city closed access to the cemetery and recommended no-use of the waste facility.
In Cheyenne, Black Hills Power also reported power outages.
“Today’s hurricane-force wind gusts resulted in uprooted trees, broken branches, and debris falling into power lines, leading to multiple outages across Cheyenne, Wyoming,” according to the company on March 12.
The company also issued warnings, like to assume any downed powerline is energized and to make sure back-up generators are being used in ventilated areas, not inside a home or garage.
Cheyenne shut down its public transit, landfill and golf courses. The latter remained closed Friday while staff removed trees and debris.
The Laramie County School District announced school closures on Friday because of rolling power outages and ongoing cleanup efforts from wind damages.
The wind event in Wyoming was part of a storm that hit much of the northwest. It’s now moving toward the Great Lakes region, but Wyoming isn’t in the clear, calm yet.
There’s still a high wind watch in effect through Saturday evening for the Wind River Basin, east slopes of the Wind River Mountains and portions of Natrona County. Much of the region could experience 35 to 50 mph gusts through Saturday night, as well.
This was not the first shocking high wind event this winter. Natoli said it’s been an extremely windy season. La Niña is partly to blame.
“[La Niña] is the colder than average temperatures in the equatorial, tropical Pacific Ocean. That can have some ripple effects to our area, including generally favoring stronger winds in Wyoming,” Natoli said.
Whether a general shift in climate is causing a windier Wyoming? Natoli said it’s hard to say.
“There's a lot more that's just kind of random chance that has caused the winds this season. But as far as the long-term increase in winds, I don't know if we can really say that for sure,” he said.
Either way, Natoli said the winds are raising his hackles for wildfire season. Especially after such a dry, warm winter.
“Anywhere where there's not snow cover and dead dry grass, wildfires will have the potential to spread very quickly,” he said.
Much of Wyoming is forecasted to have record-high temperatures by the middle of next week. Temps are expected to creep toward 80 degrees in Green River, Lander, Riverton, Thermopolis, Casper and Douglas. The average March temperature high for these areas is 49 degrees.
