Powerful storm hits Cheyenne on 40th anniversary of 1985 flood

CHEYENNE (WNE)  — A powerful storm tore through Cheyenne and surrounding areas Friday afternoon, resulting in baseball-size hail and funnel clouds and causing widespread damage to vehicles, homes and trees.

At 5:31 p.m., the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Cheyenne, which was followed soon after by a tornado warning, and then tornado sirens.

Matthew McLaughlin, NWS general forecaster, said around four funnel clouds were spotted over Cheyenne, but there were no touchdowns. It hailed everywhere, though, with a couple of areas seeing the worst of it, he said.

“I think (downtown) is where we got some of the most reports,” McLaughlin said. “The biggest hail of the entire event was actually eight miles southwest of Burns. Downtown got about baseball-size hail, and eight miles southwest of Burns got about three-inch hailstones.”

The storm was also accompanied by frequent loud cracks of thunder and lightning bolts.

Social media posts in the Cheyenne Community Connections Facebook page Friday night chronicled the hail damage.

Coincidentally, the storm hit 40 years to the day after the 1985 Cheyenne flood.

On Aug. 1, 1985, a hailstorm struck Cheyenne, leading to a flash flood across the city. The National Weather Service Forecast office in Cheyenne measured 6.06 inches of rainfall, though some areas saw 7.87 inches just within a three-hour time span.

During the 1985 storm, hailstones up to two inches in diameter fell with some areas seeing one foot’s worth of pileup. Winds blew at 70 mph, while a few funnel clouds formed resulting in two short-lived tornadoes.

The 1985 storm resulted in 12 fatalities, 70 injuries and over $61 million in damages. Most of the deaths were associated with people being swept away in their cars as they tried to cross flooded streets along Dry Creek.

This story was published on August 3, 2025.