EF2 Tornado — St. Bernard, Louisiana

2022-12-14 · near Arabi, St. Bernard, Louisiana

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.9460, -90.0121)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1071405. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.