Tornadoes · United States · Wyoming · 2013

EF0 tornado, Wheatland, Wyoming, June 22, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Platte County on June 22, 2013, touching down at 1:58 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 22, 2013
Touchdown
1:58 PM MDT (19:58 UTC)
Lifted
1:59 PM MDT (19:59 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Platte County
Touchdown point
41.978, -104.970
Lift-off point
41.982, -104.965
Record number
1306221358-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms developed east of the Laramie Range during the early afternoon, and quickly became severe. The storms produced very large hail, strong winds, funnel clouds, and a few tornadoes.

A weak tornado touched down in open country south of Wheatland. It remained on the ground for a minute before lifting. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

19 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:39 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:01 UTC and running to 00:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:01 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WatchCYS
18:57 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
19:28 UTC20:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
19:39 UTC20:30 UTCTornado WarningCYS
20:25 UTC21:04 UTCTornado WarningCYS
20:45 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
21:27 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
22:26 UTC22:54 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
22:56 UTC01:31 UTCFlood AdvisoryCYS

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 16:27 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), 12:00Z

8.0 hours before the tornado, 276 km from the path. June 22, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2013-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 9 joules per kilogram, CIN -479, lifted condensation level 1617 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2013-06-22The 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 -5 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 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
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-479 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

4.0 hours after it, 276 km from the path. June 23, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2013-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 652 joules per kilogram, CIN -96, lifted condensation level 2701 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2013-06-23The 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 -29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 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
652 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-96 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1411 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2701 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.3
0-3 km lapse rate
9.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:58 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
19:50 UTCHAIL 12 W WheatlandPlatte, WY
19:56 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDWheatlandPlatte, WYSEVERAL REPORTS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS WITH NO TOUCHDOWNS.
19:56 UTCHAIL 0.5WheatlandPlatte, WY
19:56 UTCTORNADO5 W WheatlandPlatte, WY
19:58 UTCTORNADO5 S WheatlandPlatte, WYTORNADO TOUCHDOWN BRIEFLY 5 MILES SOUTH OF WHEATLAND. ON THE GROUND FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE MINUTE BEFORE LIFTING.
20:00 UTCHAIL 21 Sw WheatlandPlatte, WY
20:00 UTCHAIL 2WheatlandPlatte, WY
20:20 UTCHAIL 0.2514 Sw ChugwaterLaramie, WY
20:21 UTCHAIL 2.75WheatlandPlatte, WY
20:21 UTCHAIL 4.25WheatlandPlatte, WY
20:25 UTCHAIL 0.751 W WheatlandPlatte, WYLOTS OF HAIL ON THE GROUND SOME STRONGER WIND GUSTS.
21:00 UTCHAIL 0.2514 Sw ChugwaterLaramie, WY0.10 RAIN. STORM PASSED THROUGH ABOUT 1/2 HOUR AGO.
21:19 UTCHAIL 0.258 N ChugwaterPlatte, WYHARD RAIN
21:37 UTCHAIL 0.2510 Ne ChugwaterPlatte, WYHEAVY RAIN ALSO
21:54 UTCTORNADO10 Sw VeteranGoshen, WYTORNADO TOUCHDOWN AT 354 PM.
22:16 UTCHAIL 13 Sw YoderGoshen, WYSOME NICKEL SIZE

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in WyomingEvery tornado in Wyoming since 1950Warnings in force in Wyoming nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 2013

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 222:06 PM MDTEF0Natrona, WY0.120
June 223:54 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.430
June 224:30 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY4.340
June 224:50 PM MDTEF1Banner, NE7.9100
June 225:26 PM MDTEF0Banner, NE1.140
June 226:58 PM MDTEF0Kimball, NE0.640
June 228:55 PM CDTEF1Columbia, WI3.2125

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.