Wyoming, 2001

Funnel Cloud in Wyoming, May 13, 2001

May 13, 2001 · NWS RIW · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 funnel cloud, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
1

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 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 Riverton, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 13, 2:45 AM MST, 9 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 13, 2:45 AM MST, 9 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY
345 AM MDT SUN MAY 13 2001

SUMMER LIKE PATTERN CONTINUES WITH MONSOON LIKE SURGE OF SUBTROPICAL
MOISTURE SPREADING NORTH FROM OLD MEXICO AND E PACIFIC OFF BAJA NOW
IN DESERT SW...GREAT BASIN AND SOUTHERN ROCKIES MOVING NORTH
NORTHEAST TOWARDS WYOMING.  AHEAD OF MOISTURE...WARM DRY AIR MASS IN
PLACE OVER STATE WITH ANOTHER THREAT OF RECORD HIGHS THIS
AFTERNOON BEFORE MOISTURE ARRIVES.  COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL
BE BIGGEST FORECAST QUESTION THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.  AT THIS
TIME FORECAST ONLY HAS EVENING THUNDERSTORMS BUT MAY HAVE SOME
ACTIVITY THROUGH THE NIGHT AS COMPLEX CONTINUES TO PRODUCE
LIGHTNING IN SE BC MOVING INTO S ALBERTA AND ANOTHER COMPLEX HAS
HELD TOGETHER ACROSS AZ AND NM.  WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE SOME
LIGHTNING IN UT AND NV BEFORE SUNRISE.  MODELS...EXCEPT AVN HAVE
BACKED OFF ON MOISTURE AND QPF FOR WY TODAY AND TONIGHT.  HAVE NOT
MADE MUCH CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS FORECAST.  ADDED STRONG GUSTY WIND
OVER SW AND W MOUNTAINS WITH THUNDERSTORMS.  EXTENDED MODELS VERY
INCONSISTENT WITH STRENGTH AND POSITION OF LOWS OVER W US.  DOUBT
STRENGTH OF COOLING THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.  HAVE COMBINED
SATURDAY WITH THURSDAY AND FRIDAY SINCE NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE IN
FORECAST AND THERE IS EXTREME UNCERTAINTY IN ACTUALLY WHAT WILL
HAPPEN DURING THIS PERIOD DUE TO FLIP FLOPS OF MRF AND DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN MRF AND THE OTHER EXTEwNDED MODELS.  AS PMDEPD STATES...LOTS
OF LUCK WILL BE NEEDED.

.RIW...NONE

C.BAKER

The radar

The Riverton/Lander radar (KRIW), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Sweetwater

When
May 13, 12:00 PM MST to 12:05 PM MST
Where
Sweetwater County, 8 mi S of Wamsutter
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.660, -108.879 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Funnel Cloud
A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Wyoming in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, May 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: 5244943.