Tornadoes · United States · Wyoming · 2017

EF0 tornado, (Cod)Yellowstone Apt, Wyoming, June 12, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Park County on June 12, 2017, touching down at 5:50 PM MDT and reaching 25 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 12, 2017
Touchdown
5:50 PM MDT (23:50 UTC)
Lifted
5:52 PM MDT (23:52 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Park County
Touchdown point
44.420, -108.910
Lift-off point
44.430, -108.910
Record number
1706121750-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A combination of an abnormally strong upper level low, strong jet dynamics and an approaching cold front produced one of the biggest severe weather outbreaks across western and central Wyoming in many years. A total of 4 tornadoes were confirmed, including an EF2 tornado which was the strongest tornado that occurred in the NWS Riverton county warning area since 2001 which completely destroyed a trailer and threw it's base over 200 yards. There were also multiple reports of large hail, especially in Johnson County where hail up to tennis ball size was reported. In the dry slot across central and southern Wyoming, strong mid level winds mixed to the surface. The strongest winds were in the Lander foothills where wind gusts up to 76 mph occurred. Many trees were uprooted with some damage to outbuildings. Wind gusts 58 mph or over were also reported in Sweetwater County.

The public reported a tornado that briefly touched down several times in the Oregon Basin southeast of Cody. The tornado remained over open country and caused no damage.

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:47 UTC and running to 03:29 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:47 UTC03:29 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchRIW
23:24 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningRIW
23:31 UTC23:48 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningRIW
23:57 UTC00:12 UTCTornado WarningRIW
00:02 UTC00:21 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningRIW
00:19 UTC00:34 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningRIW

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Riverton, WY (KRIW), 12:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 156 km from the path. June 12, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 2017-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -63605, lifted condensation level 956 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 2017-06-12The 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 89 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-63605 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
956 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Riverton, WY (KRIW), 00:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 156 km from the path. June 13, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Riverton, WY at 00:00Z on 2017-06-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 804 joules per kilogram, CIN -131, lifted condensation level 2386 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Riverton, WY at 00:00Z on 2017-06-13The 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 -26 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
804 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-131 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2382 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2386 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
8.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Riverton/Lander radar (KRIW), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:49 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
22:25 UTCHAIL 0.882 Ene Hwy 14/16/20 MilePark, WYAROUND 10 MILES WEST OF WAPITI.
23:50 UTCTORNADO10 Se CodyPark, WYBRIEF TORNADO NEAR OREGON BASIN WITH MULTIPLE TOUCHDOWNS
00:15 UTCTORNADO25 Wnw WorlandWashakie, WYROPE TORNADO WITH DEBRIS CLOUD UNDERNEATH
00:21 UTCTORNADO4 W BurlingtonBig Horn, WYPHOTO RECEIVED OF ROPE TORNADO WEST OF BURLINGTON

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in WyomingEvery tornado in Wyoming since 1950Warnings in force in Wyoming nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 12, 2017

20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 123:55 PM MDTUnratedGoshen, WY23.240
June 124:40 PM MDTEF0Laramie, WY to CO2.880
June 125:40 PM CDTEF2Weld, CO to WY15.0300
June 124:49 PM MDTEF1Converse, WY0.525
June 125:05 PM MDTEF1Laramie, WY1.580
June 126:09 PM CDTEF2Goshen, WY to NE25.65002$603,000
June 125:30 PM MDTEF2Johnson, WY1.6250$10,000
June 126:01 PM MDTEF1Kimball, NE1.080
June 126:12 PM MDTUnratedBanner, NE0.725
June 126:14 PM MDTEF0Big Horn, WY3.130
June 127:21 PM CDTEF0Fond du Lac, WI2.150$7,000
June 126:30 PM MDTEF1Banner, NE4.2100$25,000
June 126:33 PM MDTUnratedDawes, NE1.125
June 126:36 PM MDTEF0Natrona, WY0.120
June 127:13 PM MDTEF1Morrill, NE0.250
June 127:19 PM MDTEF2Morrill, NE31.6300$3.5 million
June 128:30 PM MDTEF1Sheridan, NE9.210$21,000
June 128:40 PM MDTEF1Sheridan, NE9.210$21,000
June 129:10 PM MDTEF0Bennett, SD0.07
June 1210:40 PM MDTEF1Sheridan, NE9.210$21,000

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.