The uplift file
Wind-rated roof systems for Wyoming
Start with the number: 12.9 mph. That is Wyoming's annual average wind speed, first among the states per the Wyoming Climate Atlas from the State Climate Office, and an average understates what it feels like from the Laramie Valley to the ridges above Casper. The same source logs frequent winter runs of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of 50 to 60 mph, and names Rawlins, Laramie, Cheyenne, and Casper among the windiest places in the state.
A roof here is not weathering wind occasionally; it lives in it. This page is the file on what that means for metal: what uplift is, the design values counties publish, the tested ratings that carry meaning, and the questions that separate bidders who engineer from bidders who talk. The full statewide picture, costs included, is the Wyoming metal roofing guide.
The wind, on the record
The National Weather Service office in Cheyenne treats southeast Wyoming wind as its own forecast problem, with a dedicated high-wind page mapping where it concentrates: the South Laramie Range and the I-80 Summit between Cheyenne and Laramie, the Bordeaux stretch of I-25 between Chugwater and Wheatland, the Laramie Valley, and central Laramie County. The office notes its guidance rests on local research published in an American Meteorological Society journal. The Climate Atlas adds the calm end of the scale: Lander and Sheridan are the gentlest of the reporting stations, and gentle in Wyoming is a relative claim.
What wind does to a roof is suction, not shove. Air accelerating over eaves, rakes, ridges, and corners drops in pressure and pulls the covering upward, hardest in the corner zones. A metal roof answers with a continuous, interlocked, mechanically fastened assembly, and three details decide how much it can take: the panel profile (covered on standing seam metal roofing), the clip and fastener system, and the fastening pattern an installer actually follows (covered on metal roof installation).
Your county sets the number
Wyoming has no mandatory statewide building code (code adoption runs city by city and county by county, per the International Code Council's Wyoming adoption page), so the design wind speed a roof must meet is published locally, office by office. Three examples bracket the state:
| Jurisdiction | Published wind value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| City of Cheyenne | 115 mph ultimate design wind speed | City plan review criteria (PDF) |
| Natrona County (Casper area) | 105 mph three-second gust, one and two family dwellings | County guidelines |
| Teton County (Jackson) | 115 mph basic wind speed, with 120 to 175 psf ground snow load on top | County design criteria |
Two cautions when reading values like these. The terms differ, an ultimate design speed and a basic three-second gust are not the same measurement, so match like to like and let the building office say which applies to your address. And Teton County is its own category: wind is the second load there, behind snow figures several times what the plains towns publish, which is why Jackson gets treated as a separate market on this site rather than another windy town.
Ratings that mean something
Uplift resistance is tested, published, and checkable, which makes it the rare roofing claim you do not have to take on charm. Per Sheffield Metals' learning center (manufacturer-published), UL 580 tests complete roof assemblies in classes 30, 60, and 90, Class 90 highest, in 120 minute phases; UL 1897 continues the UL 580 procedure upward to failure; and ASTM E1592 applies uniform static pressure to standing seam systems. Sheffield states UL 90 is its minimum standard for installed systems, and MBCI's overview (also manufacturer-published) walks the ASTM E1592 side for standing seam.
The word that matters in all of that is assembly. The rating belongs to a tested combination: deck, underlayment, clip type, panel, and spacing, evaluated together. A brochure number for a panel alone is not an assembly rating, and an assembly rating does not transfer to your roof unless the installer uses the tested parts at the tested spacing, tightened in the edge and corner zones. That is the thread connecting the test lab to the fastening pattern, and it is why the bidder conversation below is worth having.
After the blow: the one statewide law
Wind and hail bring storm repair crews, and that is where Wyoming's one statewide roofing law shows up. The Exterior Storm Damage Repair Contracts act, Wyo. Stat. 40-12-701 through 40-12-706, enacted as 2017 Senate File 0127 and effective July 1, 2017, requires written disclosures in storm damage repair contracts, gives the homeowner a right to cancel within three business days of signing or within three business days after the insurer denies the claim in whole or in part, and bars the contractor from paying or rebating any part of an insurance deductible or acting as an adjuster on the claim.
Notice what it is not: a license. It tests nobody's competence and checks nobody's fastening pattern. It does hand you a fast character test, because a cover-your-deductible pitch after a windstorm is itself illegal under 40-12-702. The rest of the checking is yours, and the guide walks it in order.
Three questions that sort your bidders
- Which tested assembly are you quoting? A real answer names the test (UL 580, UL 1897, or ASTM E1592), the class or pressure, and the panel and clip it was earned with.
- How does it map to the design value for my address? A real answer names your building office and its published number, like the three in the table above, not a national brochure claim.
- What happens at my eaves, rakes, and corners? A real answer describes tightened spacing in the edge and corner zones and the edge metal that closes them out.
A bidder who answers all three in plain terms has told you more than any review site could. A bidder who answers in colors and warranty years has also told you something.
Put the questions to a real bid
The fastest way to hear how a roofer handles the assembly question is to ask it across the kitchen table. The match is free and the referral fee is paid by the professional, never by you; how we make money lays it out, and about us covers the sourcing rules behind every figure on this page. Your town's offices and local rules live on the service area pages.
Questions homeowners ask
- What wind rating does a metal roof need in Wyoming?
- Start from your county’s published design value, not from a product sheet. Cheyenne’s plan review criteria call for a 115 mph ultimate design wind speed, Natrona County publishes a 105 mph three-second gust for one and two family dwellings, and Teton County lists 115 mph. Then ask the bidder which tested assembly, under UL 580, UL 1897, or ASTM E1592, meets that number on your roof shape.
- What does UL 90 mean on a metal roof?
- UL 580 tests a complete roof assembly, deck, clips, and panels together, in classes 30, 60, and 90, with Class 90 the highest and the test run in 120 minute phases. Sheffield Metals, a panel manufacturer, states UL 90 is its minimum standard for installed systems. The rating belongs to the tested assembly, so the parts and spacing on your roof have to match what was tested.
- Why do roofs fail at the edges in wind?
- Wind speeds up as it crosses eaves, rakes, ridges, and corners, and that acceleration creates suction that pulls upward hardest in those zones. This is why clip and fastener spacing tightens at edges and corners on a properly detailed roof, and why a pattern sized for a calm state fails quietly here. The NWS Cheyenne forecast office documents the corridors where southeast Wyoming wind concentrates.
- What are my rights after wind or hail damage in Wyoming?
- The Exterior Storm Damage Repair Contracts act, Wyo. Stat. 40-12-701 through 40-12-706, applies statewide. It requires written disclosures in storm repair contracts, gives you three business days to cancel after signing or after your insurer denies the claim in whole or in part, and makes it illegal for a contractor to pay or rebate any part of your deductible. A deductible offer is your fastest warning sign.
- Are exposed fastener panels wind-rated too?
- Some carry tested ratings, and the manufacturer’s page for the specific panel is the place to confirm. The structural difference stands either way: exposed fastener panels hold on through gasketed screws in the panel face, and years of wind cycling and temperature swings work on those gaskets. On exposed Wyoming sites that is the argument for concealed-clip standing seam, which spreads uplift through interlocked seams.