EFU Tornado — St. Bernard, Louisiana

2022-12-14 · near Shell Beach, St. Bernard, Louisiana

Event narrative

A post-event analysis using high resolution satellite imagery helped to identify a defined, narrow tornado damage path in the marsh of the Biloxi State Wildlife Management Area. This damage path is matched closely with KLIX radar data that indicated a strong area of rotation with a tornado debris signature between 5:44 and 5:52 PM CST. Given the rotation was much stronger right before the tornado moved over land it is possible the tornado was already down while it was over Lake Borgne. Additionally, the exact end of the tornado path is less clear as several lagoons obscure any semblance of a damage path toward the end before the tornado debris signature began to dissipate. Exact peak intensity is unknown given no damage indicators could be identified.

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 → (29.9017, -89.5915)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1143754. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.