Wyoming winter VS. Minnesota winter (Cheyenne, Casper: college, to live in, dangerous)

[slippery1955]

How are these 2 states comparable to winter? In Minnesota it can get 60 below wind chills and tons of snow. How is it in Wyoming? I have a friend who is thinking of moving down their. Thanks!!!

[ElkHunter]

In Wyoming, we don't have thermometers. We just put the dog out and wait 3 minutes. If you have to go out and bust him loose from the tree, it's cold.

In Wyoming, the snow doesn't melt. The wind just blows it around until it wears it out.

I've never lived in Minnesota, however, I have lived in Eastern South Dakota. Without looking at any stats on the weather, I'd say that the biggest difference is that the Rocky Mountain ranges cause us to have more channeled wind. By that, I mean that the Rocky Mountains are shapped in a manner that when storms roll in from the West Coast, the shape adds to the storms allowing them to pick up a little speed and then direct that wind in areas that can make them very windy and very cold. The East side of each of these ranges tends to be on the lee side of weather and those areas are much more desirable.

In a sticky thread at the top of the page, called "Summer Weather Alerts", the very first post show's highway cams and in there is a link showing the Climate History. That link will take you to climate history from 1981-2010. You can put in town names and be able to see what the min, max, mean is for Precip, snow, temps, etc and be able to run some comparisons between Minn towns and Wy towns. But it's not going to show you wind.

[jody_wy]

My wife is from Truckee Ca. she skied in packed wet snow she called cement, here in western Wyoming we have powder snow because of the cold, the hard crust in late march tru April

[omaraz]

Originally Posted by slippery1955

How are these 2 states comparable to winter? In Minnesota it can get 60 below wind chills and tons of snow. How is it in Wyoming? I have a friend who is thinking of moving down their. Thanks!!!

I went to college in Wyoming and now live in Western Wisconsin, I'm about an hour away from Minneapolis. Anyhow, the winters in Wyoming are a bit unpredictable. It can go from not snowing to almost blizzard conditions in a matter of minutes. Also, it might snow a great deal one winter but not so much the next. Because there isn't any humidity in Wyoming (or very little) the dry air along with the wind (which is strong at times) can make it really cold. There were a few times when we were told not to spend a considerable amount of time outside because it was so cold and windy. I'm sure this happens in Minnesota I just haven't experienced it yet.

In Wyoming it's not uncommon for it to snow in May, one spring it was actually in the 30's in late May and we had snow flurries. If you can survive a Minnesota winter, you'll be fine in Wyoming.

What part of Wyoming is your friend thinking about moving to?

[Happy in Wyoming]

Every county in Wyoming has recorded snow in every month of the year; almost every county in Colorado has done the same. However, I've also been in shirtsleves every month of the year here and in Colorado. I'm from northern Illinois originally and can say that winters back there are far more severe; there's absolutely no comparison.

[KillerK]

The others have hit it on the head. I haven't been through a winter in my current location yet (Buffalo, near Sheridan, north-northeast WY), but where I used to live in Pinedale (Sublette County, western WY near Jackson) it was known for being super duper cold, but the coldest it got last year was about -40 in town (got colder out of town locations due to blowing wind and more exposure).

But from what I've heard it seems that area in particular is colder than most of Wyoming - though most of the state does get pretty cold in winter. However a lot of the time it's a dry cold that might not be quite as bone-chilling as Minnesota. The wind can be an issue though, with wind-chill problems and visibility with the blowing snow. I for one love winter here. (And am no stranger to winter weather coming from NW PA.)

In fact one of the friends I made in Pinedale is from Minnesota, and he had no trouble whatsoever during the two winters so far he's been in WY.

[slippery1955]

Thanks everyone for your replies. My friend is looking at casper to move. What do ya think?

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by slippery1955

Thanks everyone for your replies. My friend is looking at casper to move. What do ya think?

Casper is located in one of the windiest corridor areas of Wyoming.

The surrounding areas are some of the most brutal winter clime to be found in the state.

While the snowfall totals won't be as much as seen at the lower elevations, the drifting conditions, icy roads, and strong winds can combine to make this a long severe winter area. I've had many a trip through Casper where I-25 just a mile or so out of town was exceptionally difficult driving conditions. It was prudent to wait out the conditions or to turn back to Casper. Twice in the last winter, I've turned off the highway and camped out at a park just south of town and waited out the white-out conditions and slick roads.

With low ambient temps and wind velocities commonly over 60 mph ... frequently with much stronger gusts ... wind chill temps for exposed skin can readily be far below -40F in the area, although in the city area of Casper, the winds are moderated due to the development.

If your friend is acclimated to dealing with those cold and windy conditions, knows how to dress in layers, then it won't be that much of a transition ... more a matter of degree rather than the shock of dealing with serious outdoor cold conditions. Friends from that area of the country tell me that they were used to commuting around their rural areas with snowmobiles and heading to the lakes for ice fishing, bundled up with eye protection, etc. The biggest difference will be the length of the winter at the higher elevation.

[NDak15]

Originally Posted by slippery1955

How are these 2 states comparable to winter? In Minnesota it can get 60 below wind chills and tons of snow. How is it in Wyoming? I have a friend who is thinking of moving down their. Thanks!!!

Both states can get bitter cold in the winter. I haven't lived in Minnesota so don't know what the windchills are often like, but having been in Iowa during the winter I have seen days that have been just as cold or colder than Wyoming in the winter. The humidity makes a big difference in the Midwest whereas you won't get that in Wyoming. As others have said, the wind is what can make the winters severe around here and can make winter driving very dangerous. As others have also said, the snow can come at any time between October and May (and the other months at high elevations).

The big difference is the summers. Our dry summers are much nicer IMHO than the Midwest's humid ones.

[HarobedRettum]

Lived in Duluth, now live in Cheyenne. 1) volume of snow, more in MN, 2) number of blizzards, more frequent in MN, 3) in WY the snow doesn't stay on the ground as long, it snows then melts in a couple days. 4) icey roads, in WY just a little snow with strong winds will close the freeways for hours. 5) More wind in WY, and much stronger, that being said there are many, many beautiful days winter and summer, 6) in WY, fewer below zero days