Under the dimmed light of our dining room chandelier, Mom and I sat across from each other with various maps and weather forecasts pulled up on our phones and laptops. I studied them with an intense scowl. I wasn’t quite liking what I was seeing. 

“Wyomin’s almost always horrible this time of year…” I growled, “We oughta go through the mountains. Here, to Vail, to Glenwood, to Grand Junc-“

“No.” Mom shook her head, “The mountains are snowy. Let’s take the highway from here to Fort Collins, then I-80 through Wyoming to Salt Lake. It’s safer because it’s more well-traveled, and there’s no snow in the forecast.”

“But, there’s wind and existing snow.” I pointed out, “Lots and lots of wind. I don’t like that. Semis start to tip in forty mile-an-hour crosswinds. The wind’ll be gusting to sixty tomorrow, and even stronger the next day. Going through that is a very bad idea.”

“Maya, we’re driving the 4Runner.” Mom retorted, “The wind doesn’t matter. So long as there’s no snow or ice, then it’s safe.”

“The problem is…” I immediately began, “Is that with a wind that strong, it’s gonna pick up existing snow and create ground blizzards, as well as blow over semis around us. I-80 is not a stretch of highway I wanna be on during a calm day, let alone in high winds, let alone in cold and snow.”

“It’ll be forty degrees!” Mom replied, “And blue skies.”

“With a sixty-mile-an-hour wind and snow on the ground.” I snapped back, “The mountains are better. They’re easier and faster and more protected. I’d rather hit ski traffic than go through whatever godforsaken weather’s in Wyoming!”

“Well… grandpa Lyle says that Wyoming is much safer than the mountains.”

“In the summer!”

“No, it’ll be fine in the winter, too. Just relax. It won’t take long for us to get through Wyoming.”

“Alright…” I sighed, frustrated and not wanting to argue further, “If you’d rather we get crushed by a semi than deal with ski traffic, then I guess we’ll do just that.”

“Oh, whatever!” Mom rolled her eyes, chuckling as she closed her laptop and headed to bed.

It was then that I realized Mom didn't know what a ground blizzard was. To be fair, most people don't know what a ground blizzard is. But, that's because ground blizzards are fairly rare in most parts of the country. Wyoming, more specifically, almost the entirety of I-80, is known for its intense wind for a reason.

Wyoming is in the center of the country, where the jet stream tends to sit over. In places where the jet stream frequently rushes right over, the winds tend to be much stronger. There is also a break in the Rocky Mountains in southern Wyoming, made up of high, flat plains for as far as the eye can see, running mostly east-to-west through the center of the Rockies. The jet stream winds get funneled through that break in the Rockies, wreaking havoc on the barren, flat prairies of southern Wyoming. Especially in the fall through the spring, when weather patterns are much more volatile. 

Add in east-to-west, straight highways with no protection in sight, dangerous cold, loose snow, ice, and traffic, and you get to experience what it would be like if Hell froze over. 

However, I struggled immensely to explain this to my mom, who was convinced we would only encounter "just some wind", which in her mind, wasn't a big deal. To be fair, it wouldn't have been a big deal had it just been "some wind". But, Wyoming winds in winter are very different from a typical windy day in Denver. 

Too bad I couldn't explain it properly to my mom, however. We were going through Wyoming, no matter how bad of an idea I thought it was.