Thunderstorm Wind — Fremont, Wyoming

2023-07-03 · near (lnd)hunt Fld Lander, Fremont, Wyoming

Event narrative

A line of thunderstorms moved eastward across the Wind River Basin and Lander Foothills and brought high wind gusts. The maximum gust reported was 69 mph at the Riverton airport. Other notable gusts included 66 mph at the Lander airport and 58 mph at Shoshoni. There were numerous reports of large tree limbs blown down in Riverton with the strong wind. On Ocean Lake near Riverton WY, a kayak was capsized and two men were thrown into the water. One was rescued by a nearby boater, but the other could not be found and was presumed dead by the Fremont County Sheriff (Sheriff Office press release from July 5, 2023).

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front and shortwave moved across Wyoming. Showers and thunderstorms mixed strong low level winds to the surface and brought numerous reports of wind gusts over 50 mph. The highest wind occurred in the Wind River Range where favored channeling brought wind gusts as high as 96 mph. In the lower elevations, the highest wind gust was 80 mph to the north of Casper. Wind gusts over 58 mph occurred in Fremont, Teton, Natrona, Sublette and Sweetwater Counties. In Fremont County, the wind capsized a kayak and threw two men into the water at Ocean Lake. One man could not be rescued and was presumed drowned. On the north shore of Lake Yellowstone, a microburst downed hundreds of trees in the Lake Village area of the park, blocking roads and causing a loss of power for multiple days.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.8200, -108.7300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1124943. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.