Salt Lake City Tornado
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The Salt Lake City Tornado was a rare and unusual tornado event that occurred at Salt Lake City, Utah on August 11, 1999. It was among the most notable tornado to hit west of Kansas in the 20th century, and the first tornado to hit in Utah that resulted in a death.
Hail preceded and followed this tornado, rated F2 on the Fujita scale. At 12:41 P.M., 1 1/2 inch diameter hail was reported near the town of Herriman. Afterwards, the storm started rotating and at around 1:00 P.M. Many people reported seeing the storm rotate as it moved into downtown Salt Lake City. A non-decending tornado developed and travelled from western dowtown northeast before terminating near Memory Grove Park.
The tornado uprooted trees and destroyed temporary buildings set up for a retailers convention, claiming one conference goer's life.
The Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz, suffered minor damage. All of the windows from the nearby Wyndham Hotel were broken out. Construction cranes for the LDS Conference Center were toppled by the storm, and damage to historic buildings in the lower Capitol Hill area of Salt Lake was reported.
Tornadoes in the west
Tornadoes are generally weak west of Colorado, but Western states have had their share of tornadoes. In California, they usually hit around Los Angeles.
A mile-wide, F4 tornado once hit in the Teton valley of Wyoming. This tornado hit near the Continental Divide at an elevation of around 10,000 feet.
See also: List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks