Name: Damaging Wind in Wyoming, June 1, 2002
Start: 2002-06-01T16:50
End: 2002-06-01T16:50
Location: Wyoming

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: 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 happened

The episode as NWS RIW wrote it up.

Wind gust of 80 mph blew trucks off US 30 in Kemmerer.

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 Jun 1, 2:08 PM MST, 2 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 1, 2:08 PM MST, 2 hours 42 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY
308 PM MDT SAT JUN 1 2002

RIDGING STILL VERY APPARENT OVER THE REGION AS SHOWERS AND STORMS
CONTINUE TO ROTATE AROUND PERIPHERY JUST NORTH OF WYOMING.  DECENT
LITTLE COMPLEX JUST SKIRTING THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF YELLOWSTONE...
BUT MOST OF ITS EFFECTS SHOULD MISS YELLOWSTONE.  AN AREA OF MAINLY
MID AND HIGH CLOUDS ROTATING INTO SOUTHWEST WYOMING HAVING A TUFF
TIME HOLDING TOGETHER AS THEY ENTER THE HIGHER PRESSURE.  TROF
SWOOPING RATHER QUICKLY INTO THE WEST COAST AS THINGS GET SORT OF
BUNCHED UP IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION FOR A SPELL.  NOT MUCH IN THE
WAY OF MECHANICAL FORCING TODAY IN THE ANTICIPATED ABSENCE OF ANY
SHORTWAVE ACTIVITY.  HOWEVER...A DAY FOR THERMODYNAMICS AS
ATMOSPHERE EXPECTED TO BECOME MODERATELY UNSTABLE ACROSS THE NORTH
AND NORTHEAST.  COINCIDENT WITH THE INSTABILITY IS GOOD LOW LEVEL
CONVERGENCE/UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND THETA-E RIDGING.  MODEL
SOUNDINGS IN THIS AREA INDICATES GOOD POTENTIAL FOR STRONG WIND AND
LARGE HAIL...THO WET BULB IS A LITTLE ON THE HIGH SIDE.  SURFACE LOW
CROSSING WYOMING TODAY SHOULD BE MOVING INTO THE PLAINS
TONIGHT...BRINGING GOOD VEERING OF LOWER LEVEL WIND ACROSS THE
NORTHEAST AND EAST PARTS OF THE CWA.  SUNDAY THE TROF MOVES CLOSER
WITH WYOMING IN GOOD SOUTHWEST FLOW EARLY...THEN A COLD FRONT MOVES
INTO THE NORTH BY LATE AFTERNOON...PROVIDING A GOOD FOCUSING
MECHANISM FOR ENHANCED CONVECTION AS THE ATMOSPHERE ONCE AGAIN
EXPECTED TO BE QUITE UNSTABLE WITH GOOD LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE/UPPER
LEVEL DIVERGENCE ACROSS THE NORTH AND EAST ONCE AGAIN.  FRONT THEN
MOVES SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION SUNDAY NIGHT PROVIDING NORTHEAST FLOW
FOR MOST INTO OR THRU MONDAY.  TROFINESS HANGS AROUND FOR MUCH OF
THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK...MAKING FOR UNSETTLED AND COOLER
CONDITIONS.  OVERALL FORECAST TREND UNCHANGED...ONLY MINOR CHANGES
MADE.

FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAG WARNING TODAY FOR SOUTHWEST WYOMING FIRE
ZONES AS WINDY...DRY...AND WARM CONDITIONS PERSIST WITH VERY LOW RH
VALUES AND POSSIBILITY OF DRY THUNDERSTORMS.

.RIW...RED FLAG WARNING TODAY WYOMING FIRE WEATHER ZONES 277 AND 279.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 1, 4:44 PM MST, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON, WY
544 PM MDT SAT JUN 1 2002

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

0525 PM    23 S GREEN RIVER          WY   62 MPH TSTM WIND GUST
06/01/02   SWEETWATER                     OBSERVER REPORTED 62 MPH
                                          WIND SUSTAINED FOR ONE
                                          HOUR.REPORTED BY CO-OP
                                          OBSERVERS AT THE BUCKBOARD
                                          MARINA, NEAR FLAMING GORGE
                                          RESERVOIR.

The radar

The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 170 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:50 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Lincoln

When: June 1, 4:50 PM MST
Where: Lincoln County, Kemmerer
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.800, -110.533

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Wyoming in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wyoming, June 2002

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: 5301645.