Hail — Natchitoches, Louisiana

2025-03-31 · near Campti, Natchitoches, Louisiana

Event narrative

Golf ball size hail reported in Campti.

Wider weather episode

Surface analysis indicated a cold front moving across East Texas into North Louisiana late in the evening on March 30th and early in the morning on March 31st, with a very moist airmass located ahead of the front. Surface dew points within this moist air mass were in the upper 60s and lower 70s. Very strong instability was clearly evident, with MLCAPE around 3000 J/kg. In addition, a subtle shortwave trough was observed moving across Central Texas. Ahead of this feature, large-scale ascent increased across East Texas and North Louisiana, aiding convective initiation. Additionally, 0-6 km shear of 45 to 50 knots and 700-500 mb lapse rates of 8 to 8.5 C/km suggested that large hail was likely with supercell development. As a result, several reports of large hail were documented across North and Central Louisiana during the early morning hours of March 31st.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.9000, -93.1200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1249662. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.