Why does the wind always blow so hard and continually here in wyoming?

Question

Its been another 50/50 day, 50mph winds, 50 degree day...

Why does the wind blow here with gusts that can reach 80mph? Where does the gusts stop at in the USA after leaving WY, do they just lose power?

Why is it almost an everyday occurance to have such strong winds here?

THanks!

Answer 1

I'm over here in NC so I'm gonna send your WY wind back to ya!

I know how you feel though...besides being irritated!

I am so sick and tired of my hair whipping around in my eyes and sand pelting my face.  The horses hate to ride in the wind.  Spookin' at  their shadow and every creak of the branches.

So, is it like this for you through the summer to?

Wyoming is a place I am dreaming of moving to.  We've tried a few times but the plant didn't have an opening for my hubby.

Answer 2

The air at the top of a mountain descends very rapidly and the amount of wind depends on how dense that air is and the pressure of that airmass.   It is kind of like heavy rain,   the way the wind moves through mountainous regions.

Answer 3

Well technically winds don't blow they suck.  Air is being pulled.  That is caused by a number of factors and yes as I recall an area of Wyoming is on the top ten list of windyest in the US.  Your mountains and a constant "jet stream" above Wyoming contribute to the phenom.  

Mountain breezes and valley breezes are due to a combination of differential heating and geometry. When the sun rises, it is the tops of the mountain peaks which receive first light, and as the day progresses, the mountain slopes take on a greater heat load than the valleys. This results in a temperature inequity between the two, and as warm air rises off the slopes, cool air moves up out of the valleys to replace it. This upslope wind is called a valley breeze. The opposite effect takes place in the afternoon, as the valley radiates heat. The peaks, long since cooled[vague], transport air into the valley in a process that is partly gravitational and partly convective and is called a mountain breeze.

Forested areas are less windy than plains and cities because the trees disrupt wind patterns. Trees are defined to have a dampening effect on wind speeds in that they reduce the partial derivative of pressure differences across non-infinitively occupying plain. Further effects of trees wind reducing capabilities is in the fact that trees bend in the wind. Considering the mass of a tree in comparison to air particles it is highly predicable that much of the total energy of the wind is lost in kinetic energy to the trees.

Mountain breezes are one example of what is known more generally as a katabatic wind. These are winds driven by cold air flowing down a slope, and occur on the largest scale in Greenland and Antarctica. Most often, this term refers to winds which form when air which has cooled over a high, cold plateau is set in motion and descends under the influence of gravity. Winds of this type are common in regions of Mongolia and in glaciated locations.

Because katabatic refers specifically to the vertical motion of the wind, this group also includes winds which form on the lee side of mountains, and heat as a consequence of compression. Such winds may undergo a temperature increase of 20 °C (68 °F) or more, and many of the world's "named" winds (see #Named Winds above) belong to this group. Among the most well-known of these winds are the chinook of Western Canada and the American Northwest, the Swiss föhn, California's infamous Santa Ana wind, and the French Mistral.