Wyoming · Preparedness Guide

Wyoming is the 10th largest state by area and the least populous in the country — about 584,000 people across 98,000 square miles. That ratio means emergency services are stretched thin and self-reliance is not optional. Winters are severe: I-80 between Cheyenne and Rawlins closes dozens of times per year, the Snowy Range and Bighorn Mountains generate extreme snowfall, and Arctic outbreaks push temperatures to -40°F or colder across the state. The state's energy-extraction economy — coal, oil, gas — has been in structural decline for a decade, creating economic vulnerability that compounds every natural disaster. And sitting directly above Yellowstone is the world's largest supervolcano, which last had a major eruption 640,000 years ago — but which remains seismically active every day.