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F3 tornado in Bossier Parish, Louisiana

Tornado April 23, 2000 · Bossier Parish, Louisiana

F3
Rating
32.5 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
4
Injuries
$7.3M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Caddo Parish → Bossier Parish; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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

High precipitation supercells developed along the leading edge of a dry line across eastern Texas which moved into northwest Louisiana. Numerous trees and power lines were downed as the tornado moved across the area. The most extensive damage was noted near Atkins, LA (2.5 miles south of Elm Grove on US 71), where one brick structure was almost totally demolished. Only pieces of two walls remained. The brick structure had 6 inch iron poles supporting the corners and these were bent and twisted. Near the brick building was a two story house which had its roof completely removed and most of its siding stripped off. A mobile home also on this property was completely destroyed and strewn across a field. Some trees that were left standing had their bark and leaves stripped off. Immediately adjacent to this damage, on the other side of US 71, another farm building was completely destroyed along with numerous trees leveled. Eyewitness accounts indicated that two tornadoes occurred with this supercell. The descriptions were consistent with those of cyclic, tornadic supercells. Only one injury was reported at this location. A mans' arm was lacerated to the bone by flying debris.

Began near Elm Grove (32.3167, -93.5500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5139656. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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