Name: Damaging Wind in Wyoming, September 3, 2002
Start: 2002-09-03T18:45
End: 2002-09-03T18:45
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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
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 UNR wrote it up.

Severe thunderstorm winds damaged a barn wall and flipped over ranch trailers north of Clareton.

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 Sep 3, 11:43 AM MST, 7 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 3, 11:43 AM MST, 7 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1243 PM MDT TUE SEP 3 2002

THE MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS ARE THE CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE
EASTERN CWFA OVERNIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...AND THE VERY
HOT AND DRY WEATHER FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. THE MODELS AGREE
ON THE LARGE-SCALE PATTERN OF KEEPING AN UPPER-LEVEL HIGH OVER THE
CENTRAL AND EASTERN U.S. FOR MOST OF THE WEEK...WITH SOUTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT DOMINATING THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. THIS WILL KEEP THE CWFA
HOT AND DRY WITH NEAR RECORD TEMPERATURES...EFFECTIVELY ELIMINATING
MUCH CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS ARE EXPECTED TO BE IN THE 90S
TO AROUND 100 FOR MOST LOCATIONS THROUGH SUNDAY. THE WEEKEND IS A
BIG CHANGE FROM YESTERDAY...WHEN IT WAS THOUGHT THAT A FRONT WOULD
PASS THROUGH THE CWFA. THE ONLY REAL CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL
COME AFTER 04Z TONIGHT OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL SD...LINGERING UNTIL
AROUND 15Z WEDNESDAY MORNING. A CLASSIC NOCTURNAL CONVECTION SETUP
IS ANTICIPATED WITH A 30-45KT LOW-LEVEL JET NOSING INTO SOUTHERN SD
AND FOCUSING MOISTURE/TEMPERATURE ADVECTION...WITH ELEVATED CAPE OF
1000 J/KG. THE ETA APPEARS A BIT SLOW ON BRINGING THIS WAVE THROUGH
THE CWFA...AND NONE OF THE MODELS HAVE A HANDLE ON THE RH/OMEGA/PCPN
FIELDS FOR THIS EVENT. THE ETA ACTUALLY KEEPS MUCH PCPN LINGERING
OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL SD THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...BUT THIS SEEMS
UNREASONABLE GIVEN THE STRONG WARMING IN THE MIDLEVELS. BEYOND
TOMORROW...MOST...IF NOT ALL...OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CONFINED
TO THE NORTH AND WEST OF THE CWFA. THE NEXT MENTIONABLE CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ON TUESDAY...BUT THERE IS NOT A LOT OF FAITH
IN THE 6-7 DAY FORECAST AT THIS POINT.

.UNR...RED FLAG WARNING NERN WY AND BLKHLS TUE AFTN THRU THU EVNG.
       RED FLAG WARNING BADLANDS AREA WEDNESDAY AFTN THRU THU EVNG.

BUNKERS

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Weston

When: September 3, 6:45 PM MST
Where: Weston County, 6 mi N of Clareton
Measured: 58 kt (67 mph)
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.783, -104.700

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, September 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: 5316646.