PHOTOS: Birth & Progression Of Casper Tornado

Thursday afternoon 6/30/23, a twister began stretching down toward the west end of Casper Mountain Wyoming.

Folks on all sides of the mountain began taking pictures.

Thanks to them we now have a  look a the progression of the tornado as it twisted and twirled its way down to the top of the mountain.

This was a long thin one.

Our first photo comes from Brian Kunert Atwooki.

He owns a ranch on 12-Mile Road on the west side of town, in Natrona County.

This gives in a close-up view of the twister, at the far west end of the mountain.

IT BEGINS!

The first hint that something is happening.

But at this point, anyone would wonder if it is going to touch town and become an official tornado.

The view is of the downslope at the very western tip of Casper Mountain.

Despite the dark cloud above, there is sunlight in the foreground.

A Pointy Tip

Go back up to that photo and look closely, beyond the pointy tip.

You can see the twisting motion is developing beyond that.

But it is very faint.

This thing will touch the ground for sure.

It's just not obvious yet.

Stretching Out

This twister is not so fat anymore.

Now it's long and thin and looking for a place to kiss the ground.

But, once again, beyond the dark clouds, we can see sunlight.

Those are the gaps between the storms.

More rain and hail were coming.

THINNER STILL!

We don't have a touchdown yet.

But it's about to happen.

More to the east, and a little farther back, another onlooker is watching the same thing.

He's at the Casper/Natrona County Airport, where he works.

He saw that final moment when the twister became an official tornado.

TOUCHDOWN!

Thanks to Clayton Wolfe who captured this photo from IPA Machining by the Casper Natrona County Airport.

He took the photo at 3:53 pm, Thursday afternoon.

At this time of the day, the storms were still building, and building fast.

Here is the same tornado from the other side. 

Cassie Witt took this photo while out by Alcova.

So we have the same twister seen by two people on either side of the mountain.

They both took photos at the same time.

THAT is just AMAZING!

Let's put them together.

The photo below is not and is full size so you can get the full effect.

This funnel cloud was long, thin, and twisting toward the top of the mountain.

The sky was not this busy just an hour ago.

Storms continued to build as they move northeast.

They became more severe.

Hail was reported in Midwest Wyoming. LOTS OF IT!

Keep your phone handy or stay close to your TV or radio for weather alerts in the coming days.