Where to retire in Wyoming (Cheyenne, Casper: insurance, high school, taxi)

[CadenceMG]

Lander gets the least amount of wind of all the towns in the state. People come from all over the world to rock climb in sinks canyon, which is just a couple miles from town. Within 8 hours (more like 5-6 hrs) of Denver and you can get alot of house for $300k.

[TNT25]

According to the NWS, Rawlins has the distinction as Wyoming’s windiest town, and Worland has the least windy distinction:

The coldest, snowiest and windiest towns in Wyoming | Casper | trib.com

[CadenceMG]

Originally Posted by TNT25

According to the NWS, Rawlins has the distinction as Wyoming’s windiest town, and Worland has the least windy distinction:

The coldest, snowiest and windiest towns in Wyoming | Casper | trib.com

Maybe it depends on the website. Let's not split hairs...I'm sure neither town gets much wind.

What Are Wyoming

[Happy in Wyoming]

Here's a tabulation of wind speeds by county.

Wyoming Average Wind Speed County Rank

[TNT25]

Originally Posted by CadenceMG

Maybe it depends on the website. Let's not split hairs...I'm sure neither town gets much wind.

What Are Wyoming

Just presenting all sides here. It’s nice when there’s data to back up broad generalisations that are made here.

[sunsprit]

one needs to put these winds, wherever they present in Wyoming in perspective of how they affect living here.

By way of comparison, the average winds here would justify posting "small craft warnings" for boaters ...

"Small Craft Warning - This is issued if winds are expected to sustain in the range of 20 to 33 knots."

As someone who has spent a lot of time racing dinghy sailboats around the USA, I've been to yacht club venues where races were postponed or cancelled when Small Craft Warnings were posted due to the winds. Many of the locals simply aren't accustomed to sailing in such conditions and it becomes a hazardous/liability situation for the organizers.

I've been on a lot of Wyoming lakes now in my little 12' and 14' tin fishing boats when we launched early in the AM and were some distance away from our launching site when the winds picked up from barely a breeze rippling the water to solid whitecaps in a matter of minutes. Suffice to say that I don't believe that either boat is safe to use around here except on the calmest of days in protected waters. At those times when a 14' planing dinghy could really get fun, those little power boats are quite overwhelmed.

As a GA pilot, these area winds are something to be taken seriously. I've been at many airports around Wyoming where cross winds and/or gusts have taken their toll on aircraft with off-runway excursions, loss of control incidents, etc. While many of these only resulted in damaged aircraft, I've been around on days when fatalities did occur, too.

One of the based aircraft at my home strip was a Malibu, an expensive pressurized and very capable aircraft. The owner (a far more experienced, higher rated, and with lots of time in similar high performance aircraft) wouldn't fly it if the cross winds were in excess of the aircraft manufacturer's rating, 18 kts. He wound up selling the airplane because he couldn't fly it much of the time from his home base due to the crosswinds which presented most of the year.

Another one of our C-D thread posters years ago mentioned needing to get an FAA Flight Test for an advanced pilot rating. IIRC, he was based out of Casper, where the winds can frequently be fairly strong, so he trained in those conditions. His Flight Examiner showed up from out of state on the appointed test day and refused to conduct the flight due to the strong winds/gusts. Our Wyoming pilot prevailed to get the flight test by explaining/convincing the examiner that these were "normal conditions" here and he was used to flying them, but the examiner was quite skeptical about doing so.

I've had the same thing happen for my BFR's (biennial flight reviews) ... when a CFII declined to conduct my flight review due to strong winds in the area. Personally, I'd rather do the review in our prevailing conditions and sweat a bit with the instructor critiquing my performance than to wait for a calm day where it's all "peaches and cream" to do the required airwork. Have flown my C182 on days gusting to 40 mph at 90 degrees to our narrow runway and done just fine for the repeated take-offs and landings. That's quite in excess of the 'rated" cross wind ability of the aircraft, but well within it's abilities for a trained pilot. Keeps you on your toes ....

In the same view, I've had many days here in Wyoming trail riding my horses in the back country where the winds were howling unless you could escape them in a heavily wooded area. I'd rather that my horses were acclimated to being ridden in such conditions than to be "caught out" on a day and have horses that were too out of control to safely ride when things got gusty ... tree limbs blowing around, debris/leaves/tumbleweeds blowing around, howling noises in the fence wires, and so forth. We'll find places on the mountain trails where you go from very exposed to sheltered, and oft times miles to ride when there's no getting out of the windy conditions.

While my advancing years have kinda' curtailed my days of back country hiking, I've had more than a few here where we set out on a gorgeous sunrise hike only to find ourselves hunched over trying to deal with the winds when they came up. Certainly took the fun out of a day's excursion for me. Road bicycling ... pretty much the same. Used to do 50's and century's when I lived in Colorado ... and rode frequently during the fair weather months. When my shop was in Lakewood, I could ride the paths and streets over to the East side of Denver (4300 E Kentucky Ave ... a 'benz dealer) for small parts runs on my bicycle during a lunch break. Can't say that I enjoy riding in the prevailing winds/gusts here in SE Wyoming, although I do take a small mountain bike along with me in the C182 for ground transport at many airstrips around the state.

Similarly, my decades of enjoying a motorcycle ride have been greatly curtailed. I used to do 30-50,000 miles/year using a motorcycle for basic transportation and recreational riding. But fighting the winds here on the roads takes all the fun out of it for me. Same thing with my roadster cars ... top down touring was fun in the Colorado mountains and even cruising around town. But here in SE Wyoming? not. The top stays up on my Alfa and I sold my 'benz roadsters because they weren't getting driven anymore.

[townshend]

Originally Posted by Pilot1

OP, what's wrong with Utah? I used to live in CO, but am considering WY, UT, and MT when I retire. The Rocky Mountains are fantastic.

Nothing wrong with Utah per se, but I am not Mormon and don't want to live in a state where the majority of the citizens may (and do) express their religious views at the polls.

I have canyoneered in southern Utah, both around Zion National Park in the North Wash areas (SE Utah), and thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful country.

Also Utah falls into the "least tax friendly" for retirees, acc to Kiplinger's guide: https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/retir...rees/index.php

BTW, I recognize that Midwestern rural to semi-rural areas are culturally conservative. I have no problem with that whatever. Live and let live.

Thanks for the ideas. I have some places to check out.

[Pilot1]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

As a GA pilot, these area winds are something to be taken seriously. I've been at many airports around Wyoming where cross winds and/or gusts have taken their toll on aircraft with off-runway excursions, loss of control incidents, etc. While many of these only resulted in damaged aircraft, I've been around on days when fatalities did occur, too.

One of the based aircraft at my home strip was a Malibu, an expensive pressurized and very capable aircraft. He wouldn't fly it if the cross winds were in excess of the aircraft manufacturer's rating, 18 kts. He wound up selling the airplane because he couldn't fly it much of the time from his home base due to the crosswinds which presented most of the year.

I was based in Colorado for several years with my Grumman Tiger. I often exceeded the demonstrated crosswind stated in the POH as that isn't a limitation, and the plane could handle more. A friend of mine owns a Piper Meridian (turbine Malibu), yeah nice plane. He lives in the East, so the winds aren't that bad, but I will ask him about crosswinds.

WY is under consideration for me as a place to retire, so I am interested in weather, and wind discussions. I can't imagine it is much different than the Front Range in CO, but I may be wrong.

[jody_wy]

Originally Posted by townshend

Nothing wrong with Utah per se, but I am not Mormon and don't want to live in a state where the majority of the citizens may (and do) express their religious views at the polls.

I have canyoneered in southern Utah, both around Zion National Park in the North Wash areas (SE Utah), and thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful country.

Also Utah falls into the "least tax friendly" for retirees, acc to Kiplinger's guide: https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/retir...rees/index.php

BTW, I recognize that Midwestern rural to semi-rural areas are culturally conservative. I have no problem with that whatever. Live and let live.

Thanks for the ideas. I have some places to check out.

Lot of Mormons west side of the state and up into the wind river basin

[NDak15]

[quote=Happy in Wyoming;50984355]Your only choice would be Uinta County in the far SW corner of the state. It's the least windy by a significant amount. I lived there for five years and I do miss the lack of wind. It's only an hour from Salt Lake. There's a fair amount of snow, but it is out of the blizzard belt. I'm originally from Chicago so I can assure you that winters are far easier.
Wyoming is the most conservative state in the country based on voting records.

[/QUOTE

I don't buy it for a second that Uinta County is the least windy in the state nor that it's out of the blizzard belt. Yes, Wyoming is ultra conservative. To the point that there is a small but very vocal minority that brings it into every conversation.

Originally Posted by Pilot1

OP, what's wrong with Utah? I used to live in CO, but am considering WY, UT, and MT when I retire. The Rocky Mountains are fantastic.

I wouldn't recommend Utah unless you're LDS. That state is practically a theocracy.

Originally Posted by Ltdumbear

Gillette.


Perfect for you.

If I were to go back to Wyoming Gillette would be one of my top choices. Good sized town and you're not far from the Black Hills.