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EF2 tornado in Orleans Parish, Louisiana

Tornado December 14, 2022 · Orleans Parish, Louisiana

EF2

Rating

10.6 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

Injuries

$150.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Jefferson Parish → Orleans Parish → St. Bernard Parish; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado entered into Orleans Parish from Jefferson Parish as it crossed the Westbank Expressway. Moving into Algiers, the tornado again caused significant structural damage along Tita St. One home was shifted from its foundation and began to roll over, being completely destroyed in the process. Three others suffered significant roof structure loss or partial wall collapse. A church was also

shifted from its foundation and destroyed on Wiltz Ln. The tornado then crossed the river, exiting Orleans Parish and entering into St. Bernard Parish.

The wider storm

A strong upper level disturbance and surface low produced several supercell thunderstorms with embedded tornadoes across Southeast Louisiana and Southern Mississippi during the late afternoon and evening hours of Wednesday December 14, 2022. These supercell thunderstorms produced straight line wind damage and a several tornadoes in the area. Two EF-2 tornados impacted portions of the New Orleans metro area in St. Charles Parish, and in Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard Parishes.

6 tornadoes have been confirmed from this event. These tornadoes have been determined to range in strength from EF0 to EF2 after NWS storm surveys were conducted. The St. Charles tornado resulted in 8 injuries and 1 fatality.

Began near Gouldsboro (29.9275, -90.0403).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 St. Charles Parish 1 dead EF1 Tangipahoa Parish EF0 Terrebonne Parish EF0 St. Tammany Parish EFU St. Bernard Parish EFU Plaquemines Parish

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1071404. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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