Windows in Wyoming whistle because the wind does not take a season off, and they fade because the sun is serious at this elevation. Grit in the tracks, a sash that no longer meets, and seals fogged by the daily swing are the usual report. Night cold after a bright afternoon checks trim and works any gap the latch gave up. South glass takes the light. The windward wall takes the gust. Count those separately before the whole house becomes one order.
Older wood on a Laramie or Sheridan street and newer vinyl on an open lot fail differently. Soft sills and a frame out of square mean full-frame work. A sound frame can take an insert. Feel the wood. A unit set on a rotten sill will leak the first time the wind drives grit and the rare hard rain at the head. Ask how the sill sheds water and what fills the gap. Storm panels are a fair repair when the glass is intact and the frame still meets.
Do not replace every opening because one wall howls. The lee side is a comparison. Daylight at a meeting rail on the windward side is the scope. Ask for whole-unit figures as a spec, not as a promise the house will use less of anything. You want the draft down and the sill dry. That is visible. Cabins and houses that sit empty show the worst rot when they are opened, because condensation had all season to sit on the stool.
If a claim is open, photograph the windward elevation and any hail marks on the glass before the screens are discarded. Hail and wind together scar the west panes in some towns. In others the only mark is a whistle and dust. Say which one you have so the scope is not imported from a different part of the state. Brick openings punish a casual set the next time the gust stacks on that wall.
Say how many windows, which rooms, and whether the frames are soft. Name the town. Have the deductible only if the policy is already in the story. The wind will test the new unit the day it is set. Call the number on this page.