EF1 Tornado — St. Helena, Louisiana

2024-06-04 · near Pine Grove, St. Helena, Louisiana

Event narrative

A EF-1 tornado formed just east of Highway 449 and tracked due east producing swaths of tree damage over mostly inaccessible areas. The areas south of Stone Road are where the most extensive damage occurred per high resolution satellite imagery which was not accessible to ground survey, but clearly aligned with the presence of a tornado debris signature on KHDC radar imagery. The tornado crossed through Beaver Run and Rocky Hill Roads where damaged large branches and caused a few uproots of large hardwood trees. No further damage could be identified via ground survey or high resolution satellite imagery to support the tornado continuing much further beyond Highway 43, west of Hillsdale. Peak wind speed was estimated to be 95 mph.

Wider weather episode

The start of what would eventually be a very potent Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) began around midnight on June 4th in central Oklahoma. A cluster of thunderstorms became outflow dominant with the convection chasing the outflow boundary southeastward. The MCS had weakened quite a bit as it moved into northwest Louisiana. However, strong daytime heating and pooling moisture ahead of this was waiting for it in southeast Louisiana. Those warm temps and high dewpoints increased surface and mid level instability that would support very strong updrafts. Although shear was relatively low, it was sufficient to support severe weather. About the time the MCS reached the Mississippi River, it began to rapidly intensify into a well organized system. As it moved through the area, it produced wide spread wind damage and four tornadoes. No injuries or fatalities reported with these tornadoes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.7500, -90.7000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1193114. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.