Strong winds will hit part of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, forecast region Friday night and potentially impact traffic with tropical storm-force gusts.
The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Cheyenne issued a high wind watch on Thursday afternoon for the north Snowy Range foothills, including the cities of Arlington and Elk Mountain, and the central Laramie Range, southwest Platte County, and south Laramie Range, including the cities of Bordeaux, Vedauwoo, Pumpkin Vine and Buford.
Interstate 25 between Chugwater and Wheatland and Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie could be affected.
Impacts from the wind will be “mainly to transportation,” the alert said.
“Strong cross winds will be hazardous to light weight or high profile vehicles, including campers and tractor trailers,” the alert said.
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West winds between 25 and 35 mph are expected, with gusts up to 60 mph, equivalent to a tropical storm.
Tropical storm winds occur between 39 mph and 73 mph. Winds stronger than that are classified as a hurricane using the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. Although the winds in Wyoming are not related to a tropical storm in any manner, their speed could resemble a tropical storm.
It’s uncertain if the watch will be upgraded to a warning, as it’s still possible the wind gusts won’t reach the 60 mph threshold for the upgrade. NWS meteorologist Michael Charnick told Newsweek that the incoming winds are weaker than Wyoming can sometimes see, when winds as strong as 90 mph hit the I-80 corridor.
“You definitely can see trucks get blown over, or lightweight trailers,” NWS meteorologist Rob Cox previously told Newsweek. “They completely blow over.”
On Thursday morning, the NWS office in Cheyenne said the winds would prevail through Saturday.
“Breezy to windy conditions will prevail, especially for the wind prone locations, through Saturday,” the office posted. “Expect a slow warming trend through Monday. Skies will be sunny today, Sunday and Monday, and partly cloudy for the Friday and Saturday. It will remain dry.”
Wind-prone areas in Wyoming can see strong gusts of wind up to 90 days out of the year.
“It is pretty common here in Wyoming, we probably see wind across these areas three to four months out of the year,” Cox said. “It’ll happen on a consistent basis from October to March.”
The best chance for strong winds will occur on Saturday morning, Charnick said. Some snow is present in the impacted areas, and winds could cause blowing snow.
Charnick suggested motorists should be aware of road closures, as sometimes I-80 and I-25 are closed due to high winds.
As of Thursday night, according to animated weather footage from windy.com, the strongest gusts in Wyoming were near Wheatland at around 35 mph.