A cold front moved across Wyoming and brought showers and gradient wind that produced strong wind gusts, some over 58 mph. Some of the strongest wind was in the eastern Wind River Range and the Lander Foothills where a breaking mountain wave developed.
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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 RIW wrote it up.
A cold front moved across Wyoming and brought showers and gradient wind that produced strong wind gusts, some over 58 mph. Some of the strongest wind was in the eastern Wind River Range and the Lander Foothills where a breaking mountain wave developed. A maximum wind gust of 91 mph occurred at Red Canyon along South Pass in the Wind River Range.
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 9, 8:20 AM MST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Riverton WY 920 AM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - The greatest coverage for showers and thunderstorms today will be across western Wyoming and from Sweetwater to Natrona Counties. Isolated to widely scattered showers and thunderstorms elsewhere. - Widespread strong southwest winds through late tonight with gusts of 25 to 35 mph. Strong west to northwest winds and widespread gusts of 35 to 45 mph all day Wednesday. - Elevated to near critical or critical fire weather conditions through Wednesday night due to gusty winds and low relative humidity. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for portions of Natrona County until 8PM Wednesday. -Near normal temperatures, breezy, low humidity, and limited rain and thunderstorm chances (less than 30 percent) Thursday through Saturday. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 130 AM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026 WV imagery continues to show the Pacific northwest upper level trough to the west with the PFJ extending cyclonically through Idaho and into Montana. Jet max of around 120kts continues to deepen the disturbance with ample diffluence aloft. IR shows the cooler cloud tops inching closer to the WY/ID state line that will slowly makes its way west of the Divide bringing with it increasing shower activity by sunrise Tuesday morning expanding to the Divide by late morning. Widely scattered showers and possible isolated thunderstorms through much of the day Tuesday, but with less instability compared to Monday that should see minimal lightning activity in regards to fire weather concerns. Currently, QPF amounts do not look substantial and some mountain snow west of the Divide to include the Winds in the highest of the elevations about 11-12kft. Nothing of note amount wise but intriguing for June and those in the backcountry enjoying the Wyoming great outdoors. It will be helpful for Gannett Peak climbers later in the month keeping the infamous bergschrund closed into early July before it starts its slow opening making for harder glacier travel. The Bighorns will look to get in on the action by Tuesday afternoon as upslope rain shower activity expands east of the Divide for the higher elevations but no snow looks to come to fruition not being as high in stature. The best chance for storm activity will come mid to late afternoon along the west to east moving cold front clashing with the drier warmer air to the east. The cold front looks to cross the Divide towards sunset Tuesday evening pushing east of the CWA before midnight. This will limit and storm development with more of a lack of moisture content east of the Divide losing the daytime heating Tuesday. Cooler temperatures west of the Divide with earlier FROPA, but temperatures consistent with Monday for points east. Wednesday will be the coolest day of the week with more seasonable temperatures expected CWA wide as the upper level disturbance shifts more northeastward bringing the precipitation chances limited to northern areas of the CWA from Yellowstone across the northern Absarokas and Bighorn Basin to the Bighorn Mountains themselves. Shower activity will exit to the east and northeast by late Wednesday evening and becoming mostly dry overnight into Thursday. Diurnal shower activity for higher elevations expected Thursday afternoon/early evening for Thursday onward as northwest flow aligns back across the northern Rockies. Upper level ridging builds back in across the western United States with increasing convergence aloft to aid in a warming trend Friday and into the weekend. The other weather element to expect will be winds for Tuesday and Wednesday. Ahead of the aforementioned cold front, expect gusty southwest winds, strongest east of the Divide with gusts up to 40-55mph and in particular the usual wind corridor from Sweetwater to Natrona and Johnson Counties from late Tuesday morning through much of the day. Behind FROPA, expect a shift to west/northwest winds continuing to be quite gusty but not as strong into the overnight hours through Wednesday morning. These winds will once again pick up by late in the morning through sunset before finally subsiding towards sunset and overnight into Thursday as skies improve allowing for more radiational cooling and inversion to set up near the surface. Thursday onward, expect light winds but still breezy back to normal for Wyoming through the end of the week and over the weekend. Northwest to west upper level flow continues into next week with longer term model solutions showing the next best chance for a bigger weather disturbance come mid following week. && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 430 AM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026 VFR conditions expected for much of the period at all locations. Increasing clouds across the entire CWA ahead of the next shortwave and associated cold front. Rain pushes in at JAC early in the period spreading to the Divide by mid morning around 15Z. MVFR ceilings possible with rain at JAC through 17Z as winds increase as well. Gusts up to 25kts will be common, peaking at locations east of the Divide up to 30 to 40 kts. TAF sites east of the Divide look to remain dry as winds diminish after sunset around 03-05Z but will increase once again at CPR towards the end of the period and other sites into the next TAF cycle. Thunderstorms likely west of the Divide with aforementioned cold front west of the Divide after 20Z with FROPA but diminish as it pushes east shifting winds from westerly to north of westerly there after. Please see the Aviation Weather Center and/or CWSU ZDV and ZLC for the latest information on icing and turbulence forecasts. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 130 AM MDT Tue Jun 9 2026 Near critical to critical fire weather conditions expected for Tuesday and Wednesday from 9AM to 8PM both days. Red Flag Warning continues for Fire Zone 280 (only zone with critical fuels at this time). Strong winds expected out of the southwest to north of west gusting up to 40 to 55 mph in many areas east of the Divide, and up to 30 to 40 mph to the west. Humidity values will be as low as 10 to 15 percent, driest in the Wind Corridor from Sweetwater to Natrona Counties. Low humidity values continue for Thursday and Friday into the weekend, but with less wind expected seeing only breezy conditions up to 15 to 25 mph. && .RIW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 8 PM MDT Wednesday for WYZ280. && DISCUSSION...Lowe AVIATION...Lowe FIRE WEATHER...Lowe
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A mountain wave produced around a four hour period of high wind. The maximum wind gust recorded was 91 mph.
A mountain wave moved into the Lander Foothills and brought high wind. The strongest wind recorded was 69 mph at the Lander airport.
There were numerous reports of wind gusts over 58 mph in Natrona County. Some of the notable wind gusts included 65 mph at 20 Mile Hill north of Casper and 61 mph at the Natrona County airport.
A 58 mph wind gust occurred at Irma Lake.
A 58 mph wind gust occurred at Tisdale Mountain.
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: 1350766, 1351057, 1350768, 1350769, 1350767.