Tornadoes · United States · Wyoming · 1998
F0 tornado, Newcastle, Wyoming, June 11, 1998
This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Weston County on June 11, 1998, touching down at 12:20 PM MDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.
The record
- Rating
- F0
- Date
- June 11, 1998
- Touchdown
- 12:20 PM MDT (18:20 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 30 yards (27 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Weston County
- Touchdown point
- 44.050, -104.500
- Lift-off point
- 44.050, -104.500
- Record number
- 371
What the Weather Service recorded
Atmospheric conditions over eastern Weston county resulted in some cold air funnels with brief touchdowns near the Newcastle area. No damage or injuries were reported with the tornadoes.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The surface observations
Spearfish (SPF), 74 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:36 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in WyomingEvery tornado in Wyoming since 1950Warnings in force in Wyoming nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 11, 1998
16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 11 | 1:11 AM CDT | F0 | Cheyenne, KS | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 12:08 PM MDT | F0 | Johnson, WY | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 12:00 PM PDT | F0 | Lyon, NV | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 12:26 PM PDT | F0 | Lyon, NV | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 5:00 PM EDT | F0 | Montgomery, VA | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 4:30 PM CDT | F0 | Swift, MN | 2.5 | 50 | |||
| June 11 | 6:09 PM EST | F4 | Cumberland–Greenfield tornado, IN | 13.2 | 400 | 4 | $1.5 million | |
| June 11 | 6:28 PM EST | F2 | Pulaski, IN | 9.0 | 100 | 1 | $1.0 million | |
| June 11 | 6:45 PM EST | F2 | Hancock, IN | 16.0 | 300 | $410,000 | ||
| June 11 | 7:03 PM EST | F3 | Howard, IN | 18.5 | 800 | 8 | $5.5 million | |
| June 11 | 7:20 PM EST | F0 | Randolph, IN | 5.0 | 150 | $10,000 | ||
| June 11 | 7:22 PM EST | F1 | Henry, IN | 11.0 | 200 | $810,000 | ||
| June 11 | 7:33 PM EST | F1 | Kosciusko, IN | 2.0 | 100 | 4 | $800,000 | |
| June 11 | 7:41 PM EST | F1 | Madison, IN | 17.0 | 500 | $2.0 million | ||
| June 11 | 9:34 PM EST | F1 | Wells, IN | 1.0 | 50 | $150,000 | ||
| June 11 | 9:40 PM EST | F1 | Jay, IN | 2.0 | 50 | $300,000 |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.