Thunderstorm Wind in Caddo Parish, Louisiana

A 64 year old female was walking in the 1900 block of Weinstock Street and was killed by a tree that fell on top of her.

During the early afternoon hours of July 23rd, a complex of showers and thunderstorms moved southeast into Eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas, after originally developing early that morning across portions of Nebraska and central Kansas. This complex encountered a very unstable air mass near a weak surface trough over Northern and Eastern Oklahoma and Northern Arkansas as it continued southeastward. At the same time, other scattered showers and thunderstorms developed over Central and Eastern Arkansas near this surface trough, while also aided by a weak upper level disturbance sinking south across Arkansas and the Mid-Mississippi Valley. The Eastern Oklahoma storm complex absorbed the growing storm complex over Central Arkansas, resulting in a large mesoscale convective system (MCS) intensifying and surging south into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas during the mid and late afternoon hours. Widespread wind damage was reported across much of Central and Southern Arkansas as well as Southeast Oklahoma, with a large cold pool of air surging south into Northeast Texas and North Louisiana by late afternoon and early evening. Wind gusts ranged from 50-70 mph with this MCS as it surged south across much of the Ark-La-Tex, resulting in numerous downed trees, power lines, and structural damage. This storm complex weakened during the early evening hours, although the resultant cold pool still produced 40-45 mph wind gusts which produced minor tree damage over portions of Deep East Texas that did not see showers or thunderstorms. Over 500,000 AEP SWEPCO customers were without power after the storms blew through, with many thousands of other customers with other utility companies also without power.