LTC wins four awards

The Crook County Long Term Care Facility (LTC) will be adding four more awards to its trophy cabinet this month, each recognizing the high standards that the nursing home has achieved. The first is a five star quality award from the state, which echoes the high score that the unit received last year.

"It's a complicated way that they calculate all the back-end quality measures into a final score," says Jamason Schmidt, LTC Manager.

"We have – and have had for a while now – one of the highest scores in Wyoming. They were recognizing us again for that achievement."

The second award is the Wyoming Recognition of Quality Excellence Award.

"Again, we're a five-star facility and one of the top in all the state," says Schmidt, whose along with high winds. They suggested there may have been two tornadoes since the damage indicated separate tracks.

Robinson found trees that had been uprooted and others that had snapped off. The latter, he reports, indicates a higher wind velocity of around 100 to 120 mph. Additionally, a grain silo had been moved off its foundation by the high winds.

Robinson also investigated damage at two ranches near New Haven, as well as near Goldie Divide. He met with representatives from the National Weather Service who were also investigating the tornadoes and believed they may have originated just west of New Haven; one appeared to have tracked to the north of the first property and the other to the south.

At one of the New Haven ranches, a section of metal roof was torn away. At the other, a grain silo and auger was picked up and deposited approximately a quarter mile to the east in some trees.

"The wind force here was evidently very strong having tipped over many large hay bales and thrown items around," says Robinson in his report.

In an area between Goldie Divide and Horseshoe Road, many trees were laid down and destroyed where the tornadoes appear to have originated.

The National Weather Service estimates that both tornadoes followed paths around five miles in length and were a maximum of 100 yards in width. The estimated peak wind speed was 105 mph for both tornadoes, placing them at EF1 "Moderate" on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

Storm reports from the time of the tornado show that hail fell north of Aladdin at a size of 1.75 inches and near New Haven at 1.5 inches. Large hail was also reported five miles north of Hulett and south of Lightning Flat.

Wind speeds east of Hulett and north-northwest of New Haven were measured at a speed of 60 mph. Radar images show that the storm supercell brought considerable cloud-to-ground lightning.

The following day, severe thunderstorms moved across the area, largely affecting western South Dakota but tipping over into the northeast of Wyoming. The storm brought damaging winds and caused power outages, with unusually strong winds ahead of the storm. In Crook County, high winds of 60 mph were reported near both Colony and Carlile.