Relatively strong mid to upper level winds and a potent 100 knot jet stream produce a rare late June high wind event for the southeast Wyoming wind prone areas. Windy or very windy conditions were experienced across the rest of southeast Wyoming.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS CYS wrote it up.
Relatively strong mid to upper level winds and a potent 100 knot jet stream produce a rare late June high wind event for the southeast Wyoming wind prone areas. Windy or very windy conditions were experienced across the rest of southeast Wyoming.
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 Cheyenne, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 29, 10:44 AM MST, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Cheyenne WY
1144 AM MDT Mon Jun 29 2026
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Southwest winds will increase Monday, bringing the potential
for critical fire weather conditions over the High Plains and
a brief period of high winds in the wind prone areas.
- Elevated fire weather conditions will continue for much of
the week ahead.
&&
.SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/...
Issued at 410 AM MDT Mon Jun 29 2026
Active night and early morning over the northern Nebraska
Panhandle with several severe thunderstorm over Sioux, Dawes,
and Box northern Box Butte Counties late last night up until 2
AM this morning. Confirmed ping pong ball (1.50") to hen egg
(2.00") hail over Chadron State Park with unverified reports of
larger stones. This activity has since pushed further northeast
into South Dakota leaving breeze conditions in its wake. Quiet
weather expected through sunrise this morning with increasing
clouds to the west...ahead of the potent upper level trough
which is expected to produce critical fire weather conditions
and possibly strong winds over portions of southeast Wyoming
today into this evening.
Based on IR Satellite loop analysis, the base of the potent
upper level trough is currently moving across northeast Utah,
noted by the distinct comma shape. This feature is expected to
quickly push east northeast into Wyoming over the next 6 to 12
hours. Temperatures are already pretty chilly in the Utah
mountains with snow likely falling across the peaks. Expect some
brief periods of snow for our higher mountains this morning
where a dusting up to a half inch of snow accumulation is
possible, before quickly melting by this afternoon. As this
potent trough lifts northeast, winds are expected to rapidly
increase out of the west or northwest. Pretty impressive surface
gradient with this system, which will drive the wind gusts up
to High Wind criteria for a time today and result in hazardous
fire weather conditions (please see Fire Weather Forecast for
more information). In-house wind guidance remains cautious with
this event, still showing between 35% to 50% probability for
high winds between 8 AM and 3 PM. Extended the High Wind Watch
to include eastern Platte County with in- house wind guidance
taking a noticeable trend upward for Coleman compared to the
last few runs. 700mb winds have come down some, but the surface
gradient still looks good through noon. The best chance for
precipitation with this trough will be across Carbon county near
the mountains with low elevation rain showers and maybe a few
rumbles of thunder. A very dry airmass will spread across most
of the area, which should greatly limit any convection for much
of today. Kept POP near zero through most of today and this
evening. Not as warm today, with highs in the 60s to mid 70s
west of Interstate 25 and across east central Wyoming. Somewhat
warmer further southeast with highs in the upper 70s to mid 80s
east of Interstate 25. Cool and dry airmass will likely result
in some of the high valleys west of I-25 to dip down into the
30s tonight for overnight lows (Laramie Valley, Shirley Basin,
and upper North Platte River Valley. With very dry air, don't
think frost will be a problem at this time.
&&
.LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
Issued at 315 PM MDT Sun Jun 28 2026
Tuesday, The upper level low will be lifting off to
the east back into the Northern Plains and Canadian providences as a
strong ridge over the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard begin to build.
By the late evening on Tuesday another weak shortwave will push
through the Intermountain West following the parent low moving into
Manitoba. There will be a few lobes of vorticity to play with as
this wave moves through but it looks as though all the forcing and
shower potential may lie only in the Panhandle area. As we progress
past Tuesday we become stuck in Southwest flow on the front side of
this ridge. The warm, dry, but smokey air from the Desert southwest
and the Colorado/Utah fires will be filtering over the area for the
remainder of the week. This will limit our rain chances as this dry
air removes all the moisture from the surface and lower dewpoints
and RH values. The models have a few shortwaves pushing into the
region past Tuesday but with no moisture and very limited forcing
there isn't much confidence these waves will do anything beside
increase our gradient and produce the normal amount of wind through
our area. Fire weather will be the biggest concern as our fuels will
enter a curing state once again despite our stormy 7 days last week.
Winds will be light to marginal so it may be difficult to reach Red
Flag criteria for most of our area despite the low RH and curing
fuels. There is a trough that is suppose to move through 4th of July
weekend that the models are trying to figure out so we may get some
rain but the Intermountain West would need a pretty big trough to
dig through the four corners region for anything substantial to
reach the ground. So we shall see how the models trend but the 4th
may just be as dry as the rest of the week as well.
&&
.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/...
Issued at 1144 AM MDT Mon Jun 29 2026
There are a few brief showers popping up across Southeast
Wyoming. This may cause KRWL to drop down into a broken ceiling
around 2,000ft for a couple hours before clearing out. There is
a thunderstorm developing near KTOR so be advised of that as
well. Winds are expected to kick up and remain gusty through
Midnight before dropping off for most areas. Then around 20z
tomorrow we play this game again with potentially severe
thunderstorms near KSNY, KAIA, or KCDR depending on which model
you choose.
&&
.CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WY...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for WYZ417>419-
430>433.
High Wind Watch until 6 PM MDT this evening for WYZ106-107-110-
116.
NE...Fire Weather Watch until 9 PM MDT this evening for NEZ434-435.
Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for NEZ436-437.
&&
SHORT TERM...TJT
LONG TERM...MM
AVIATION...MMPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Cheyenne WY
855 AM MDT Mon Jun 29 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1225 AM Hail 12 SE Chadron 42.70N 102.83W
06/29/2026 M1.00 Inch Dawes NE Trained Spotter
Quarter sized hail. Exact time estimated
based on radar.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
WYDOT site at Bordeaux. Peak gust of 73 mph measured at 2:02 pm MDT.
Nearly all of the observation sites in eastern Platte County reported strong wind gusts over 60 MPH. Peak gust of 79 MPH was measured at the Coleman WYDOT site.
Half of the WYDOT sites along Interstate 80 between Sinclair and Arlington reported strong wind gusts over 58 MPH. Peak gust of 67 MPH was measured at Halleck Ridge.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, June 2026
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: 1339235, 1339236, 1355524.