EF2 tornado in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana

This tornado touched down roughly 8 miles north of Jena, in north-central LaSalle Parish, and tracked out of LaSalle Parish into far northwest Catahoula Parish. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along with some structures damaged across northern LaSalle Parish. Across Catahoula Parish, numerous trees were uprooted and snapped in a convergent pattern and four power poles were snapped. The path length was 5 miles in Catahoula Parish with a total path length of 13 miles. Maximum winds were around 115 mph.

A powerful storm system took shape across the central United States and clashed with a warm and unstable airmass. An extensive and intense squall line resulted which quickly pushed eastward across the eastern half of the country. Overall, this system produced a large severe weather outbreak and brought widespread wind damage to multiple states across the south, mid south, and southeast United States. Nearly 1500 reports of severe weather were reported, across 15 states, with the vast majority being damaging winds. Wind damage was not the only severe weather event type, large hail and tornadoes were also part of the mix. In terms of total events (severe weather reports), this outbreak is one of the largest in the United States.

Across the National Weather Service Jackson forecast area, numerous reports of down trees and power lines have been reported along with multiple reports of damaged structures. These structures were damaged by either fallen trees or intense winds. Survey teams found 5 tornadoes across the area, two of these were rated EF2. The first strong tornado moved into northwest Catahoula Parish from LaSalle Parish. The other strong tornado occurred across Tensas Parish and tracked to the MS River, crossed the river and dissipated in far northwest Claiborne County. The other three tornadoes were rated EF1. One of these occurred just north of Utica, in Hinds County, another tracked across northern Simpson County near Braxton, and the other across southeast Lincoln and southern Lawrence Counties.