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EF3 tornado in Converse County, Wyoming

Tornado July 28, 2018 · Converse County, Wyoming

EF3
Rating
4.4 mi
Path length
350 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The first observed evidence of the tornado was near Rattlesnake Hill just north of Wagonhound Road. The tornado moved to the south and quickly grew stronger. The NWS survey team continued to investigate some video evidence that the tornado may have been on the ground prior to Rattlesnake Hill. The tornado snapped several trees and power poles along Wagonhound Road, and blew several large rolls of hay nearly 300 yards from a large hay bale stack. The tornado intensified as it moved south toward a ranch, reaching EF3 intensity through the barn and residence, destroying several buildings and causing significant damage to the ranch house. The ranch house had large sections of roof structure removed, and a quonset hut tractor storage area just west of the house was destroyed. Two large utility trailers weighing several thousand pounds were lofted and had not been located, with the exception of one axel set. Large cottonwood trees were stripped of all vegetation with just the largest limbs near the center of the trees remaining intact. The tornado continued south-southeast before lifting in the vicinity of Poison Lake. Start and end and locations and times of the tornado were estimated from eyewitness accounts and radar data.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms produced large hail, damaging winds and a couple tornadoes over portions of Converse and Platte counties.

Began near Douglas (42.6452, -105.5134).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 783123. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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