Tornadoes · United States · Wyoming · 2011

EF0 tornado, Torrington to Huntley, Wyoming, July 2, 2011

From Torrington to Huntley, this EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Goshen County on July 2, 2011, touching down at 7:37 PM MDT and reaching 20 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
July 2, 2011
Touchdown
7:37 PM MDT (01:37 UTC)
Lifted
7:38 PM MDT (01:38 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Goshen County
Touchdown point
41.920, -104.070
Lift-off point
41.920, -104.070
Record number
1107021937-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Late afternoon and early evening thunderstorms produced large hail, as well as a few tornadoes and flash flooding in Goshen and Converse counties.

A tornado briefly touched down in open range.

A tornado briefly touched down in open range.

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

The warnings

41 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:56 UTC, 41 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 UTC and running to 03:25 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:15 UTC03:25 UTCTornado WatchCYS
21:15 UTC21:40 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
22:42 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
23:30 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:04 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:22 UTC00:59 UTCTornado WarningCYS
00:44 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:56 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningCYS
01:23 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningCYS
01:54 UTC02:34 UTCTornado WarningCYS
02:25 UTC07:56 UTCFlash Flood WarningCYS
02:30 UTC02:48 UTCTornado WarningCYS
07:55 UTC15:03 UTCFlood WarningCYS

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 00:57 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.

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

1.6 hours before the tornado, 239 km from the path. July 3, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2011-07-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 920 joules per kilogram, CIN -98, lifted condensation level 2294 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2011-07-03The 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 -51 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.193958Sfc1 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
920 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-98 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1401 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2294 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-1.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

10.4 hours after it, 239 km from the path. July 3, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2011-07-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 502 joules per kilogram, CIN -304, lifted condensation level 1244 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2011-07-03The 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 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 knots.193958Sfc1 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
502 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-304 J/kg
Surface CAPE
354 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1244 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
103 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Torrington Municipal Airport (TOR), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:53 UTC8358120° 10 kt181015.9
00:53 UTC786090° 19 kt261013.9-TSRA
01:27 UTC6862.6330° 16 kt231017.9+TSRA
01:48 UTC66.25950° 29 kt451015.2TSRA
01:53 UTC666060° 28 kt381015.9TSRA
02:03 UTC66.257.290° 15 kt431016.9-TSRA
02:53 UTC6555160° 14 kt241018.3

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:36 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
00:47 UTCTORNADO7 Ne Fort LaramieGoshen, WY
01:00 UTCTORNADOLingleGoshen, WYTORNADO PICKED UP DUMPSTER IN PARK NEAR LINGLE
01:05 UTCHAIL 0.88TorringtonGoshen, WYDIME TO NICKEL SIZED HAIL
01:09 UTCHAIL 1.75TorringtonGoshen, WYNEAR PORT OF ENTRY AREA
01:17 UTCHAIL 2TorringtonGoshen, WY
01:18 UTCHAIL 1TorringtonGoshen, WY
01:18 UTCTORNADO2 S TorringtonGoshen, WY
01:20 UTCHAIL 1TorringtonGoshen, WY
01:21 UTCTSTM WND GST 70TorringtonGoshen, WY
01:29 UTCHAIL 1.251 S TorringtonGoshen, WY
01:30 UTCHAIL 29 Sse TorringtonGoshen, WYFROM COCORAHS OBSERVER
01:37 UTCTORNADO2 W LymanGoshen, WY
01:49 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 W LymanGoshen, WYFUNNEL APPROXIMATELY 75 FEET OFF THE GROUND
02:11 UTCHAIL 1.2510 Sw LymanGoshen, WY
02:25 UTCFLASH FLOOD4 W LymanGoshen, WYWATER OVER HIGHWAY 92 EAST OF HUNTLEY
02:40 UTCFLASH FLOOD9 Se TorringtonGoshen, WYINTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 61 AND 92 FLOODED AND CLOSED
02:58 UTCFLASH FLOOD3 Ssw LymanGoshen, WYHIGHWAY 158...MILE MARKER 1 FLOODED WITH DEBRIS OVER ROAD

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in WyomingEvery tornado in Wyoming since 1950Warnings in force in Wyoming nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 2, 2011

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 25:11 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
July 25:38 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
July 27:03 PM CDTEF0McPherson, KS0.650
July 26:47 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.025
July 27:00 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.125
July 27:18 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.020

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.