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F3 tornado in Red River Parish, Louisiana

Tornado April 23, 2000 · Red River Parish, Louisiana

Rating

19.3 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

$2.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through De Soto Parish → Red River Parish → Natchitoches Parish; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A high precipitation supercell produced a tornado as part of a tornado outbreak across the region. Damage consisted of large pine trees snapped and oak trees blown down. Most damage to residences were from fallen trees. A number of outbuildings were damaged by either fallen trees or wind. This tornado entered from De Soto Parish, LA and exited into Natchitoches Parish, LA.

Began near Coushatta (31.9500, -93.3833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5139558. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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