A tornado touched down near the southern edge of Casper during a thunderstorm that hit Wednesday afternoon, according to a Natrona County emergency management official.

No damage was reported from the twister, which was spotted along Wyoming Boulevard between Casper Mountain Road and McKinley Street, said Emergency Management Coordinator Lt. Stewart Anderson.

The funnel was seen by a sheriff's deputy and a fire chief, he added.

The tornado was powerful enough to reportedly lift up the vehicle of one person who saw it, said Chuck Baker, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Riverton. The witness wasn't injured.

The Riverton office, which had issued a tornado warning for Natrona County just after 3 p.m., received several reports of a funnel cloud seen from Mills, Casper and Evansville. Baker said the funnel might have dropped from the storm and then ascended again multiple times.

The storm moved east through the Casper area at a speed of roughly 20 mph.

Tornadoes touch down in Wyoming every year, but usually in the rural areas that comprise most of the state. However, a twister hit the town of Wright in August 2005, killing two people and destroying 60 homes.

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.