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Twister Between Farms

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On June 23rd, just outside of the tornado capitol of Wyoming, this noodle touched down. When the storm first formed in Chugwater, the clouds were spinning so fast it felt like I was watching a sped-up time lapse in front of my eyes. Tornadoes require several ingredients to form and if you have too much or too little of one then they won't happen. The Laramie Range west of here is a reliable source of lift to get updrafts going. Moisture has been more than abundant this year, as any Wyoming resident will tell you. But until this week, wind shear for severe storms was lacking. Though severe storms happened on the 3 days prior to this, cool temperatures prevented enough atmospheric instability for them to live up to their true potential. But then on Friday all the conditions came together just right for a long lived tornadic supercell. Wyoming hasn't had a day like this in several years. The storm was not one and done. It put down at least 8 twisters, depending on who you ask. Many of them were brief, but also photogenic. There was no damage reported, at least not until the supercell crossed into Nebraska.

Copyright
Kevin Palmer Photography
Image Size
6048x4024 / 10.5MB
Keywords
Contained in galleries
Storms, Best of 2023, Recent Work, Wyoming
On June 23rd, just outside of the tornado capitol of Wyoming, this noodle touched down. When the storm first formed in Chugwater, the clouds were spinning so fast it felt like I was watching a sped-up time lapse in front of my eyes. Tornadoes require several ingredients to form and if you have too much or too little of one then they won't happen. The Laramie Range west of here is a reliable source of lift to get updrafts going. Moisture has been more than abundant this year, as any Wyoming resident will tell you. But until this week, wind shear for severe storms was lacking. Though severe storms happened on the 3 days prior to this, cool temperatures prevented enough atmospheric instability for them to live up to their true potential. But then on Friday all the conditions came together just right for a long lived tornadic supercell. Wyoming hasn't had a day like this in several years. The storm was not one and done. It put down at least 8 twisters, depending on who you ask. Many of them were brief, but also photogenic. There was no damage reported, at least not until the supercell crossed into Nebraska.