EF1 Tornado — St. Tammany, Louisiana

2024-12-28 · near Oaklawn, St. Tammany, Louisiana

Event narrative

EF-1 tornado with winds of 90 mph and a maximum width of 50 yards touched down at the intersection of Transmitter Rd. and Clesi Ave. where a few small softwood pine trees were snapped. The tornado travelled to the east on the south side of Clesi Ave. and directly impacted a single wide mobile home. The back porch of the mobile home was removed and this caused the metal roof covering to partially fail. The roof covering was tossed to the north and north-east with some of the roof landing approximately 100 yards to the east-northeast in a neighbors yard. the mobile was properly strapped in, but still shifted about 3 inches on the concrete piers. A window was also broken on the south facing side of the house and all of the skirting was removed. A tree was snapped and pointing to the WSW in the yard. The snapped tree also broke a power pole that was the yard and served as the power connection for the home. A snapped tree was observed in the neighbors back yard pointing to the ESE. Tree damage was observed in the woods at the end of Clesi Ave. in the form of broken off branches. The tornado then travelled through a wooded area before encountering Pine Ridge Rd. Two softwood pine trees were snapped were pointing to the SE in a yard. Further to the east, more snapped pine trees were observed along Tranquility Rd. These trees were snapped toward to the NE and ENE. Tree damage continued into the woods across Tranquility Road, but no damage was observed further downstream marking this as the end point of the tornado.

Wider weather episode

On December 28, 2024, a potent storm system traversed the southeastern United States, significantly impacting southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, and adjacent coastal waters. The Storm Prediction Center had issued a moderate risk (level 4 out of 5) for severe weather in these areas, anticipating the development of supercell and QLCS thunderstorms capable of producing strong tornadoes and damaging wind gusts. Meteorologically, a pronounced shortwave trough advanced eastward, interacting with a moist and unstable air mass characterized by surface dew points in the upper 60s to lower 70s Fahrenheit. This setup resulted in high convective available potential energy (CAPE) values between 1500 and 2000 J/kg and substantial low-level wind shear, fostering an environment conducive to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Throughout the day and into the evening, multiple tornadoes were reported across the region, leading to significant structural damage, particularly in parts of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. In addition to tornadoes, these storms produced straight-line winds exceeding 70 mph, causing widespread power outages and hazardous conditions on both land and coastal waters. The severe weather threat persisted into the night as the storm system continued its eastward progression.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.3000, -89.9000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1228599. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.