Storm, wind burst rip up trees
By Emma Breysse, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
June 5, 2012
A thunderstorm Monday downed trees in Jackson, including a large conifer that collapsed on the front entrance of the Jackson Hole Lodge.
Moments after the storm ended, Teton County Dispatch lines were “very busy” with reports of storm damage, a dispatch worker said.
Around Jackson Hole High School, winds brought down at least four large cottonwood trees and hundreds of large tree limbs dotted the roadside.
Downtown, lodge general manager Stuart Lang was busy taking phone calls and assuring passers-by after two trees came down on the building. He was in his second-floor office when the storm started at around 4:30 p.m.
“The wind started picking up and it was just blowing like anything, and there was this huge boom,” he said. “I knew something bad had happened.”
When he looked outside, he discovered the sound was from the conifer toppling onto the wooden portico fronting the main entrance. The conifer was at least as old as the hotel, he said.
No one was hurt, Lang said, but the impact crushed the left side of the portico, demolished its support posts and ripped an American flag from its pole.
A cottonwood tree behind the hotel also toppled over, its upper branches coming to rest on the roof and balcony of a guest room. The room was empty, and that tree caused no obvious damage to the building, Lang said.
As of Monday evening, there had been no confirmed injuries caused by the storm.