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EF2 tornado in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

Tornado December 14, 2022 · St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

EF2
Rating
10.6 mi
Whole path
200 yd
Path width
10
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 Mississippi River and moved into Arabi. It continued to cause damage to trees, power lines and structures as it moved northeastward. Minor fascia damage was noted to an apartment building where the tornado crossed Patricia street and moved into an inaccessible forested area. The track was extended into the Florida Walk Canal based on high resolution satellite data indicating tree damage along the path through the forest. It may have continued into the marsh, but no damage was observable. The maximum rating of 125 mph EF-2 is based on the homes that lost all or most of their roof structure as well as suffering some wall collapse.

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 Arabi (29.9460, -90.0121).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1071405. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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