Hail in Wyoming, July 3, 2001

Name: Hail in Wyoming, July 3, 2001
Start: 2001-07-03T16:32
End: 2001-07-03T16:50
Location: Wyoming

July 3, 2001 · NWS UNR · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

Several severe thunderstorms moved across Northeastern Wyoming. The storms produced large hail as they moved across Campbell, Crook, and Weston counties.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS UNR wrote it up.

Several severe thunderstorms moved across Northeastern Wyoming. The storms produced large hail as they moved across Campbell, Crook, and Weston counties.

What forecasters said that day

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 Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 3, 1:46 PM MST, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 3, 1:46 PM MST, 2 hours 46 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
246 PM MDT TUE JUL 3 2001

ACC OVER SW SD EARLY THIS MORNING...WITH ISOLATED TSRA DEVELOPING
FROM TIME TO TIME. THIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEAK VORT CENTER
HEADING SWRD OVER WRN SD. MAY SEE A FEW MORE STORMS BEFORE THE VORT
MOVES OUT AROUND SUNRISE...SO WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR FURTHER
DEVELOPMENT.

SFC HIGH CONTINUES TO BUILD SOUTHWARD INTO THE CENTRAL DAKOTAS
TODAY...WITH SOUTHEASTERLY UPSLOPE WINDS TO THE WEST OF THE HIGH
AXIS ACROSS WRN SD AND ERN WY. SHORTWAVE CURRENTLY ROTATING OVER
IDAHO WILL REACH ERN WYOMING THIS AFTN. STRONG THETA-E ADVECTION AT
BOTH THE SFC AND 700MB WILL ADD TO THE INSTABILITY OVER NE WY AND
SWRN SD THIS AFTN AND EVENING. CAPE RISES TO 1000 TO 2000 J/KG OVER
THAT AREA THIS AFTN BEFORE THE SHORTWAVE CROSSES THE AREA AND BREAKS
THE CAP. CONVECTION MAY SHIFT EASTWARD INTO SC SD TONIGHT AS STRONG
700MB THETA-E ADVECTION CONTINUES AHEAD OF THE SHORTWAVE.

THURSDAY WILL BE MOSTLY SUNNY AND WARMER AS THE UPPER RIDGE AXIS
SHIFTS EAST. GOOD CAP OVER THE AREA WILL WORK TO INHIBIT CONVECTION
OVER SOUTH DAKOTA FOR MOST OF THE DAY...BUT THE NEXT SHORTWAVE
ROUNDING THE RIDGE WILL BREAK THE CAPE OVER NE WY DURING THE AFTN
AND WRN SD DURING THE EVENING. THIS SHORTWAVE DRAGS A SFC
TROUGH/COLD FRONT ACROSS WRN SD THURSDAY NIGHT...WHICH WILL HELP TO
RELEASE THE ENERGY STORED UNDER THE CAP OVER OUR ERN ZONES.
THEREFORE...HAVE INCLUDED LOW POP THUNDESTORMS IN ALL ZONES ON
THURSDAY NIGHT...WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS OVER NORTHWESTERN SOUTH
DAKOTA WHICH WILL BE CLOSER TO THE VIGOROUS VORT CENTER CROSSING
NORTH DAKOTA.

DIRTY WESTERLY FLOW CONTINUES THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIODS...KEEPING
A DAILY CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AND SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES.

.UNR...NONE.
RICHARDS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 3, 10:48 AM MST, 5 hours 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1148 AM MDT TUE JUL 03 2001

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1100 PM    2 SSW KEYAPAHA            SD   1 INCH HAIL
07/02/01   TRIPP                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

Local storm report, Jul 3, 10:48 AM MST, 5 hours 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION FOR TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1148 AM MDT TUE JUL 03 2001

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1000 PM    2 SSW KEYAPAHA            SD   1 INCH HAIL
07/02/01   TRIPP                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

Local storm report, Jul 3, 12:35 PM MST, 3 hours 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION FOR TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1148 AM MDT TUE JUL 03 2001

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1000 PM    2 SSW KEYAPAHA            SD   1 INCH HAIL
07/02/01   TRIPP                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

Local storm report, Jul 3, 4:12 PM MST, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
512 PM MDT TUE JUL 03 2001

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0425 PM    2 S LEMMON                SD   FUNNEL CLOUD
07/03/01   PERKINS                        REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

0425 PM    LEMMON                    SD   .75 INCH HAIL
07/03/01   PERKINS                        REPORTED BY MEDIA.

0452 PM    5 NE MOORCROFT            WY   .75 INCH HAIL
07/03/01   CROOK                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

0457 PM    5 NE MOORCROFT            WY   .75 INCH HAIL
07/03/01   CROOK                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Weston

When: July 3, 4:32 PM MST
Where: Weston County, Upton
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 44.100, -104.633

Hail, Crook

When: July 3, 4:45 PM MST
Where: Crook County, 7 mi W of Moorcroft
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.267, -105.083

Hail, Campbell

When: July 3, 4:45 PM MST
Where: Campbell County, 6 mi E of Rozet
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 44.283, -105.083

Hail, Weston

When: July 3, 4:50 PM MST
Where: Weston County, Osage
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.967, -104.400

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wyoming in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Wyoming, July 2001

Sources

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: 5260431, 5260432, 5260433, 5260434.