Excessive Heat in Caddo, Louisiana

An upper level ridge of high pressure remained anchored over the Southern Plains on July 13th, although a portion of its influence extended farther east into the Lower Mississippi Valley. A stationary front extended from Central and Eastern Oklahoma into Western and Southern Arkansas, with low level moisture pooling near and south of the front inhibiting mixing of the air mass as temperatures climbed into the mid to upper 90s across Western Louisiana. This resulted in heat indices ranging from 110-115 degrees across Western Louisiana, before showers and thunderstorms reinforced the surface front back south into extreme Northeast Texas and Southern Arkansas on the 14th, contributing to slightly less humid conditions. Unfortunately, a 34 year old male was found dead from an apparent heat stroke at 3:35 pm on the 13th. His body was found in an unairconditioned camper in the 400 block of Rutherford Street in the Highland neighborhood in Shreveport. The maximum heat index recorded that afternoon at the Shreveport Regional Airport on the 13th was 115 degrees.