A strong pressure gradient produced locally very strong winds.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS CYS wrote it up.
A strong pressure gradient produced locally very strong winds.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Cheyenne, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 19, 9:05 PM MST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
905 PM MST THU FEB 19 2009
.UPDATE...TONIGHT...
INHERITED FORECAST IS IN GOOD SHAPE...WITH THE MAIN CONCERN
REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH WINDS TONIGHT AND INTO FRIDAY
MORNING. 00Z NAM SUPPORTS HIGH WINDS DEVELOPING LATER
TONIGHT...AND HAVE UPGRADED THE HIGH WIND WATCH TO A HIGH WIND
WARNING FOR THE USUAL AREAS INCLUDING BORDEAUX AND ARLINGTON.
MEDICINE BOW WIND PROFILER HAS INDICATED INCREASING WIND SPEEDS IN
THE LOWEST RANGE GATE TO AROUND 50 KNOTS AS OF 800 PM MST THIS
EVENING. WRKHGT...WIND FORECASTING AID...IS INDICATING VALUES
SLIGHTLY BELOW WHAT WOULD USUALLY PRODUCE HIGH WINDS...BUT WITH
SUPPORT FROM THE WIND PROFILER HAVE DECIDED TO HOIST THE WARNING
FROM 09Z THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY.
ALSO ADJUSTED TEMPERATURES AND SKY COVER SLIGHTLY BASED ON THE
LATEST TRENDS.
&&
.LONG TERM...SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...
A PRONOUNCED UPPER RIDGE WILL BE IN PLACE ACROSS THE INTER-MOUNTAIN
WEST FOR THE BEGINNING HALF OF THE PERIOD. THE UPPER RIDGE WILL
BEGIN TO BREAK DOWN ON TUESDAY...WITH FLOW TURNING MORE ZONAL FOR
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN DRY AT LEAST
THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH MAYBE SOME MOISTURE SPILLING INTO THE
SOUTHERN WYOMING MOUNTAINS BY LATE MONDAY. A CLOSED UPPER LOW WILL
SWING FROM THE EASTERN PACIFIC TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST BY
MONDAY NIGHT...EFFECTIVELY FLATTENING THE INTER-MOUNTAIN WEST UPPER
RIDGE. MEDIUM RANGE DETERMINISTIC MODELS INDICATE SOME LARGE-
SCALE PATTERN DIFFERENCES BY TUESDAY...BUT GIVEN THE PERFORMANCE
OF THE ECMWF THUS FAR THIS WINTER...AND ITS PREFERENCE GIVEN BY
HPC...HAVE FOLLOWED IT FOR THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. MOISTURE
SPREADING INTO THE AREA FROM THE WESTERLIES WILL COMBINE WITH
NORTHERN STREAM ENERGY DROPPING INTO THE DAKOTAS...TO PRODUCE
INCREASED CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION BEGINNING TUESDAY AND CONTINUE
THROUGH THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL CLIMB BACK INTO THE 50S FOR
SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...WITH SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES ON THE
WAY FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS THE SYSTEM ADVECTS COOLER AIR
INTO THE REGION.
&&
.AVIATION...
VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL EARLY IN THE PERIOD...WITH GUSTY WINDS
BECOMING THE MAIN CONCERN FOR EARLY FRIDAY. THESE WINDS WILL BE
STRONG AND GUSTY FROM THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST BEFORE SHIFTING TO
THE NORTHWEST AS A COLD FRONT MOVES SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA DURING
THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON PERIOD. EXPECT INCREASING AREAS OF MVFR
CEILINGS AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION FRIDAY AFTERNOON AS SHOWERS
INCREASE ALONG AND NEAR THE COLD FRONT.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL BRING A WIND SHIFT TO GUSTY NORTHWEST
WINDS ALONG AND EAST OF THE LARAMIE RANGE BEGINNING ACROSS THE
NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE DISTRICT EARLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. AREAS OF
SNOW SHOWERS WILL ACCOMPANY THE FRONTAL PASSAGE...AND MINIMUM
RELATIVE HUMIDITIES DURING THE AFTERNOON WILL ONLY FALL TO AROUND
45 TO 60 PERCENT.
&&
.CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WY...HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 2 AM FRIDAY TO 11 AM FRIDAY FOR WYZ062-
WYZ063-WYZ066-WYZ067.
NE...NONE.
&&
SHORT TERM/AVIATION...CARPENTER
LONG TERM...HAHNHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY 926 PM MST THU FEB 19 2009 NEZ001>003-019>021-054-055-WYZ059>070-210430- SIOUX-DAWES-BOX BUTTE-SCOTTS BLUFF-BANNER-MORRILL-KIMBALL- CHEYENNE-CONVERSE-NIOBRARA-SOUTHWEST CARBON-NORTH CARBON- SNOWY RANGE-NORTH LARAMIE RANGE-LARAMIE VALLEY-LARAMIE RANGE- PLATTE-GOSHEN-CHEYENNE FOOTHILLS-PINE BLUFFS- 926 PM MST THU FEB 19 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AND SOUTHEAST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING BEGINNING AT 2 AM MST FRIDAY. STRONGEST WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED ALONG INTERSTATE 80 NEAR ARLINGTON...AND ALONG INTERSTATE 25 BETWEEN CHUGWATER AND WHEATLAND. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING WILL CONTINUE TO BE IN EFFECT THROUGH 11 AM MST FRIDAY...WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS AGAIN EXPECTED ALONG INTERSTATE 80 NEAR ARLINGTON...AND ALONG INTERSTATE 25 BETWEEN CHUGWATER AND WHEATLAND. A PERIOD OF SNOW WILL AFFECT THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AND SOUTHEAST WYOMING FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A COLD FRONT MOVES SOUTH THROUGH THE AREA. ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE SMALL...BUT VISIBILITIES MAY BE REDUCED TO A MILE IN PLACES. NORTHWEST WINDS WILL GUST AS HIGH AS 45 MPH FRIDAY AND FRIDAY EVENING. GUSTY WEST WINDS WILL RETURN TO SOUTHEAST WYOMING MONDAY NIGHT NEAR THE LARAMIE RANGE AND CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT STRONG WINDS TONIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY...ALONG WITH ANY SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OR REDUCED VISIBILITIES DUE TO BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGIC...AND CLIMATE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/CHEYENNE CARPENTER
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A few gusts around 60 mph were recorded along Interstate 25 near the Bordeaux interchange.
A few gusts around 65 mph estimated at site 13 miles SSE of Federal, WY.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, February 2009
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 149129, 149130.