Thunderstorm Wind — Catahoula, Louisiana

2023-06-16 · near Rhinehart, Catahoula, Louisiana

Event narrative

Trees, power lines, and power poles were blown down in a swath across central portions of Catahoula Parish. Some camper vehicles were damaged in the Big Bayou area.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon and evening of June 15th, an upper-level disturbance triggered a cluster of thunderstorms along a stationary front boundary around the Texas and Oklahoma border. These storms intensified and grew upscale into an intense mesoscale convective system (MCS) as they moved east-southeast along an axis of increased moisture and strong instability that extended toward the Central Gulf Coast. As the MCS moved into central Louisiana with a bow and arrow structure, it exhibited an unusually intense rear-inflow jet with velocities as high as 85 to 90 mph between 10,000 feet to 15,000 feet above the ground, as viewed by the KDGX NEXRAD site. A wide swath of significant severe wind gusts at the surface caused widespread wind damage including snapped and uprooted trees, downed tree limbs and power lines, and damage to homes and other structures. Surveys of the wind damage indicated that peak wind gusts of 90 to 100 mph likely occurred in the most intense portions of the line. Power outages in portions of the area continued for several days following these and other storms that occurred during the middle of June.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.6200, -91.9900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1150016. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.