Tornadoes · United States · Wyoming · 2007

EF0 tornado, Gillette to Rozet, Wyoming, June 6, 2007

From Gillette to Rozet, this EF0 tornado ran 3.7 miles across Campbell County on June 6, 2007, touching down at 2:35 PM MDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 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.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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.

  7. 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
EF0
Date
June 6, 2007
Touchdown
2:35 PM MDT (20:35 UTC)
Lifted
2:47 PM MDT (20:47 UTC)
On the ground
12 minutes
Path length
3.7 miles (6.0 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Campbell County
Touchdown point
44.160, -105.600
Lift-off point
44.200, -105.550
Record number
0706061435-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front and upper level system crossed the region, bringing an outbreak of severe weather to Campbell and Crook Counties. Severe thunderstorms developed across central Campbell County early in the afternoon, producing two tornadoes near Gillette and hail to the size of golf balls. These storms weakened as they moved into western Crook County but stregthened again over the northern part of the county.

A tornado touched down southwest of Gillette, dissipating before reaching the south side of town. Location was estimated from Doppler Radar data based on the times of public reports.

A tornado briefly touched down southeast of Gillette. Location was estimated from Doppler Radar data based on the times of public reports.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:05 UTC and running to 00:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:05 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WatchUNR
20:27 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNR
20:39 UTC21:30 UTCTornado WarningUNR
21:27 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNR
21:44 UTC22:45 UTCTornado WarningUNR

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), 12:00Z

8.6 hours before the tornado, 215 km from the path. June 6, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2007-06-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1559 joules per kilogram, CIN -237, lifted condensation level 2235 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2007-06-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 120 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1559 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-237 J/kg
Surface CAPE
28 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2235 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
126 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), 00:00Z

3.4 hours after it, 215 km from the path. June 7, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2007-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 115 joules per kilogram, CIN -46, lifted condensation level 1966 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2007-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -142 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
115 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-46 J/kg
Surface CAPE
490 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1966 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-142 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-44 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 219 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:36 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:35 UTCTORNADO10 Sw GilletteCampbell, WYNUMEROUS PUBLIC REPORTS OF A TORNADO ON THE GROUND...POSSIBLY MORE THAN ONE. TORNADOES ARE MAKING REPEATED TOUCHDOWNS. RELAYED BY CAMPBELL COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER.
20:45 UTCTORNADOGilletteCampbell, WYTORNADO ON THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF GILLETTE
20:55 UTCHAIL 1.75GilletteCampbell, WYWEST SIDE OF GILLETTE
21:00 UTCHAIL 1GilletteCampbell, WY

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in WyomingEvery tornado in Wyoming since 1950Warnings in force in Wyoming nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 6, 2007

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 62:54 PM MDTEF0Campbell, WY0.510
June 64:10 PM CDTEF1Bennett, SD7.2400$25,000
June 64:49 PM MDTEF0Jackson, SD0.510
June 69:20 PM CDTEF0Custer, NE0.120

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.