CHEYENNE - An intense storm blasted southeast Wyoming Thursday, producing an apparent tornado and high winds that damaged buildings in Laramie and knocked trucks off Interstate 80. No injuries were reported.

The reported twister was part of an immense storm pattern that engulfed much of the Rocky Mountain West and produced a wide variety of weather, including 6 inches of snow in Thermopolis, flooding, large hail and reports of funnel clouds south of Cheyenne.

The same storm earlier in the day produced a powerful tornado that killed at least one person about 50 miles north of Denver and damaging buildings, homes and agricultural equipment in several Colorado towns.

�Today has been probably the most insane day weatherwise in my weather career,� said Don Day, a meteorologist at DayWeather, a private weather forecast center in Cheyenne. �I have never seen a multitude of different weather elements over such a large geographic area at the same time.�

The National Weather Service in Cheyenne initially confirmed that a tornado touched down on the eastern edge of Laramie. Officials at the office later said they would not confirm the twister until at least today.

Brian Chapman, a meteorological technician with the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne, said the Weather Service would inspect the city today to determine whether a tornado touched down.

"Indicators are very strongly in favor of it being a tornado, but normally we don't confirm yes or no until we send an inspection team to survey the damage," he said.

Meteorologist Jim Robinson of the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne said it's unclear if Laramie has ever before seen a tornado inside city limits.

Observers in Laramie said several buildings at the University of Wyoming Jacoby Golf Course and some unfinished homes being built north of the junior high school were damaged.

Several power poles were knocked over in Sherman Hills east of town and on North 22nd Street.

The extreme winds ripped off part of the roof and the entire porch of the Quadra Dangle Square Dance Club, an 80-year-old log building on the National Register of Historic Places. Club members were busy mopping up water and laying tarps over the exposed dance floor Thursday evening.

"We heard a tremendous roar and a lot of banging up here," said club president William Wright, one of five people who were in the basement when the storm hit.

The storm knocked down several spruce trees and tore the roof off the apartment building next door to Tiffany Volore in eastern Laramie. She said she was in her apartment when she saw a tornado warning on television. That's when she grabbed her 2-year-old daughter and took shelter in the bathroom.

"The hail almost seemed to be going sideways, the wind was blowing so hard," she said. "That's when I took off for the bathroom."

The roof of The Tumbleweed Express gas station was blown off in the storm, exposing insulation and electrical wiring.

The sides and roof of the football shed adjacent to the junior high football field were completely gone, and twisted pieces of the siding and the roof rafters were scattered across the football field.

The Wal-Mart gardening area was damaged, and the store was closed Thursday afternoon. High winds apparently blew the roof off of a building near Wal-Mart, as well.

Parts of Laramie were still without power Thursday evening, according to residents there.

School children in Laramie were kept in class until well after release time. Some of the hailstones in central residential areas were nearly an inch in diameter, although most were smaller.

Minor damage was reported at UW, according to Mark Collins, associate vice president for administration.

Laramie resident Jason A. Lillegraven, who was still without power at almost 7 p.m. Thursday, said he weathered the �impressive� storm inside his home, prepared for the worst.

�I've lived here since 1975, and I cannot recall such a continuous line of thunder and lighting and rain and hail,� said Lillegraven, adding that he and his wife, Linda, were prepared to huddle in their bathroom if a tornado approached.

�We got our pets together and all the things you think about at a moment like that.�

The Wyoming Highway Patrol closed Interstate 80 for about an hour and a half because of severe weather and tornado warnings, said Dave Kingham with the state Department of Transportation.

The Highway Patrol reported at least three big rigs blown over or damaged by the winds. Several vehicles on I-80 in Laramie were damaged by high winds, Kingham said.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal dispatched the Wyoming Army National Guard to assist in the cleanup. The 133rd Engineer Co. in Laramie will send from four to eight soldiers to operate three dump trucks and one front-end loader, according to the Guard.

"We are committed to supporting our state and helping the people of Laramie in any way we can," Maj. Gen. Ed Wright, Wyoming's adjutant general, said in a statement.

In Cheyenne, officials at Laramie County School District 1 ordered all school buses to re-route to the nearest school building, where students were moved into safe areas.

Weather experts confirmed that the storm that hit Laramie and southeast Wyoming was the same storm that killed the man in Colorado.

The storm traveled more than 150 miles from northern Colorado to Wyoming, and was able to maintain its intensity over rugged terrain, which is �extraordinary,� Day said.

�This one is out of bounds in terms of how large and organized and moist it was,� Day said. �It will be studied by weather folks for a long while.�

The storm produced considerable rainfall in a relatively short period of time.

By 3:30 p.m. Thursday, more than an inch of rain had fallen in Riverton, Lander, Hudson, Midwest, Kaycee, Casper, Worland and several other locations. More than 2 inches of rain was reported in Buffalo.

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at {M3jared.miller@trib.com.