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After reading a lot of posts about Laramie, WY - it sounds like a wonderful town for the outdoorsy type (like us). There is also a resounding message that Laramie is cold and windy. Has anyone lived in the Midwest (ex, Iowa) for any period of time and can compare it? Iowa is also cold and windy with long winters and then its really hot and muggy.
I moved to NE Wyoming 40 years ago from Iowa, and I still have ties there. Yes, some parts of Iowa can be very windy. I moved here from north central Iowa (Eagle Grove). I couldn't believe the winds there. Most of my Iowa years were in west central (Harlan).
Laramie sits a mile higher than Iowa's highest peak, and that affects both the temperature and the wind velocity. Summers are shorter, winters are colder and have more wind. There's also more sunshine in Laramie, and it feels hotter due to the elevation.
The summers in Laramie, although short, are glorious. You wouldn't really need air conditioning, but it would be a rare evening when a jacket wouldn't feel good.
My first visit to Laramie was (in part) to see the first football game of the season in 1971 -- mid to late September. I felt that cold air come sweeping in, and someone next to me said something about snow. SNOW?? Oh yeah. It dumped on us.
That's Laramie.
UW is big there, being the only 4-year college in the state. Both of my kids attended UW, my daughter for 5 years (double major), my son for a semester (brewski trinken).
I used to live in Eastern South Dakota and I can tell you that the wind was not a factor there. At least not compared to Laramie area. In Eastern South Dakota the wind wasn't a constant. Yes, it could blow, but it wasn't every day.
One thing you have to also realize is altitude. Laramie is much higher in altitude than it is in the Midwest.
You can tell when somebody is from Laramie. When they get out of the vehicle, they hang onto the door of the car. They never take their hand off of it, even if it's calm out.
You can look this site and see precip and snow. It's kind of old but you can do some comparisons on rain, snow and such. UNITED STATES CLIMATE NORMALS 1981-2010
Thanks. We also lived in Flagstaff, AZ for 6 years so we are familiar with altitude. Just trying to get a feel for how different/same it is compared to what we've experienced.
Flagstaff at 7,000' elevation is essentially out in the open with a surrounding region of lower elevations.
Laramie is essentially at the bottom of a large funneling area of higher mountain ranges which channel the prevaling NW and Northern frontal passages into the valley where it sits. The difference in wind flows and energy here is quite pronounced compared to Flagstaff.
While Flagstaff gets it's share of strong wind flows, they are substantially less than what you'll experience in Laramie and it's surrounding area ... especially when it comes to gusting conditions in Laramie. Not uncommon in Laramie area to see 20-30-40 mph wind flows with instantaneous gusts/wind direction shifts of 50-60-70 mph. Also not uncommon in Laramie area to have winds of stronger intensity with gusts in the 90+ mph range. Typically, however, much less total moisture and snow accumulation in Laramie compared to Flagstaff due to the much lower average humidity levels and intense sunshine chinook conditions that present in winter months; these can also create favorable conditions for "black ice" formation in the area. I've driven through the Flagstaff area many times in winter months and encountered snow and hardpack snow on the roads, but never have seen black ice there.
Summer time high humidity is rare in Laramie; even when rain squalls pass through, the high humidity is present for a very short time and dissipates rapidly when the moisture soaks into the ground or is channeled into the creek beds. We've spent summer days riding our horses in the area and within minutes after a rain storm passes through, were out riding again on dry horses/tack. Having driven back to IA for livestock auctions the past few years, the humidity is noticeable and for us makes the daily temperatures uncomfortable for us without A/C in our vehicles which we hardly ever use in the Laramie area.
Flying into the IA area presents a similar amount of humidity. Here in WY, we are acclimated to clear visibility for hundreds of miles on a typical summer day; once we get over the lower elevations East of NE, it's not uncommon for a typical day of visibilty to be limited by the moisture obscuration to just a few miles at an altitude of 1,500-2,000' above ground level. The moisture just seems to "hang", and it's a lot less pleasant flying there than staying in the Rocky Mountain region. Looking back on some of my flight planning for trips to the West Coast, we've had forecast icing conditions at similar temps in the Flagstaff area compared to our flight path across WY where icing wasn't an issue; since we're not certified for known ice, we've had to adjust our route or time of flight to avoid this.
I grew up in Nebraska and have lived in Laramie, midwest winters and wind don't have a thing on Laramie's. First of all it sits at 7200 feet in elevation, makes a big difference in the cold. Yes you do get wind in the midwest but Laramie gets 30mph winds for days on end with 50 mph gusts. It is bad. Winter also tends to last 9 months. The last year we lived there it snowed 12 inches and was 30 degrees for a week, in the second week of JUNE. Don't get me wrong I love Laramie and given the chance would possibly move back. The summer days are beautiful and don't normally go above 90 for more than a few days. The summer nights cool down quite a bit, I always wore jeans if we were going to be out after dark. Great for sleeping and it's nice to not need a/c. In the winter you do feel a bit stranded with the interstate and highways closing so much.
The big positives compared to the midwest are the very limited number of bugs and the lack of humidity.
To help put the severity of the winds in the area in greater perspective ... I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, and portions of I-25 North of Cheyenne ... were closed for some time today due to the high winds and gusts.
A group of friends traveling to Riverton today couldn't go North of Cheyenne on I-25, so headed West on I-80; they were the last vehicle let through by the WHP over the pass. They told me it was rather sporting driving their van. At Laramie, the road was closed Westbound, so they diverted to Hwy 30 to Medicine Bow to reach Walcott and onward to Rawlins.
As it is now, the interstates are opened again but light trailer traffic is still prohibited. This is springtime weather, not wintertime conditions ... but winds still severe enough that the roads got closed.
I'd be curious to know where they take the wind speed readings at Laramie, because the numbers in the chart you posted (CaptRon) simply don't jibe with what I've repeatedly experienced firsthand in the area for over 30 years. As I came through Laramie Thursday this week on my way back from Rawlins to Cheyenne, the wind gusts on I-80 made it a pretty rough ride with being buffetted around a whole bunch and watching the semi's weaving around trying to stay within a lane and a half.
Those numbers also don't jibe with the reality that the winds were so violent in the Laramie area yesterday that not only did the state patrol shut down I-80 from Cheyenne to well West of Laramie, they'd shut down I-25 north of Cheyenne due to the winds.
In any event, I use the Laramie airport ATIS weather report for planning my travels into Laramie. We had a rather strong frontal passage come through from them this AM, and I'd set out at 10 AM from my Cheyenne area airstrip to go visit friends in the Laramie area. With the severity of the turbulence I was getting at 1,500' AGL, despite the broken cloud deck above moving Eastward at a fairly leisurely pace, I decided maybe the fun factor was out of the trip before I'd gotten too many miles. I was indicating 138 mph and not making 100 over the ground per my GPS. Turning around to head back home, my groundspeed picked up to 163 mph GPS but the turbulence was still severe.
Anyway, here's the most recent ATIS from KLAR, well after today's frontal passage and things are settling down:
Since most of you folk on the forum don't speak raw weather data, I'll interpret the report for you: Winds out of 270 Degrees (West) at 19 knots, Gusting to 25 knots, approx 28 mph. They report a peak gust of 27 knots earlier in the day.
The TAF is the "terminal area forecast" for Laramie. It's indicating West winds at 22 Knots GUSTING to 34 Knots (that's 40 mph!) tomorrow and some cloud/moisture activity in the area reducing visibility to a possibility of only 6 miles. The day continues with winds still forecast out of the West at 14 knots gusting to 22 knots.
What I note here is that these are actual official weather reports in real time from the automated weather station at the airport. For us pilots, these are the legal weather observations upon which we are governed by for our piloting decisions, and they're not optional for us to take very seriously should adverse circumstances present and an accident results due to "pilot error".
Looking at the Laramie chart above showing winds around 13 mph in April is laughable. I've had a number of highly experienced ... and I would add, far better pilots than I'll ever be ... decline to fly in for a weekly luncheon due to the excessively strong winds & gusts at Laramie and divert to other regional airstrips for better conditions on that day (Greeley or Ft Collins).
I've made many trips on I-80 at all times of the year through this area. Strong winds with violent gusts are common through the winter months, and not infrequent with frontal passages during the rest of the year. As one approaches the Elk Mountain area, the winds can frequently be even stronger due to the funneling of the winds by the peak and mountain range in that area, which spills Eastward to Laramie and over the pass to Cheyenne.
Additonally, I've had many days riding my horses at various locations around the Laramie area ... and have greatly appreciated the times when I've been able to ride in the wind shelter of some tree'd areas instead of being exposed in the open areas of the ride.
Bottom line: any assertion that there aren't strong winds, and some of the highest average wind energy density winds frequently in the Laramie area ... is misleading.
C'mon out and see for yourself.
I've often wondered where they get the numbers for those graphs. From my experience they've always been woefully optimistic. Like sunsprit, I too am a pilot, and wind is something we pay attention to. A lot.
While I live in Casper now, I've lived in Laramie---and Elk Mountain, too. I'd wager that these 3 places are amongst the windiest in the state. Elk Mtn. is windy (I've got lots of stories about it having grown up there.) It's a bit disconcerting when, on a calm day, you can actually hear the wind rushing down the mountain minutes before it hits you....
When I moved to Laramie it was only a slight reprieve. If you live in town and in the greater "tree" area it's not quite as bad as living on the outskirts because the buildings and flora help to break up the wind a bit. However this just makes it turbulent. Summers, short as they may be, are beautiful, though, and well worth it.
You learn to deal with the wind as a part of life here. It makes you enjoy the relatively calm summers even more. You also learn a few other subtle--and not so subtle--things, too. You try to park your vehicle into the wind so your door doesn't get ripped off. Conversely, parking into the wind also forces you to hold your door so it doesn't crush your leg as you step out, too. And it should only happen once or twice before you and your passengers learn to only open one door at a time lest any loose paper/trash/small dog () get sucked out and end up somewhere in Nebraska....
All this said, though, is not meant to discourage the OP. It's simply something to contend with. I've always liked Laramie and would move back given the right opportunity. Close to the mountains, small enough to not feel crowded but close enough to Cheyenne/Ft. Collins/Denver to not be too inconvenienced for "big" shopping. I'd take the (summertime) warm, dry and windy climate over hot and muggy any day.
Last edited by Cloudfish; 04-29-2012 at 11:28 AM..
Reason: Grammatical.
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And it should only happen once or twice before you and your passengers learn to only open one door at a time lest any loose paper/trash/small dog (
) get sucked out and end up somewhere in Nebraska....
