EF2 Tornado — Ouachita, Louisiana

2014-10-13 · near Cheniere, Ouachita, Louisiana

Event narrative

A National Weather Service Storm Survey crew determined that the damage across Monroe was consisted with that of an EF-2 Tornado. A tornado touched down in North Central Ouachita Parish as an embedded supercell thunderstorm within a squall line. The tornado initially uprooted and snapped large trees as it moved along an east northeast path towards the city of West Monroe. In the city of West Monroe, roof damage was observed to many homes and businesses. it crossed Interstate 20 near Thomas Road where many business signs and power poles were damaged or blown down. The tornado continued east northeast into the heart of West Monroe where numerous homes and vehicles were damaged due to uprooted and snapped trees. West Monroe High School was in the direct path of the tornado and received significant roof damage to a number of its buildings. The tornado continued east northeast crossing the Ouachita River just north of the Louisville Avenue Bridge and moving into the Garden District in the city of Monroe. In this area, the tornado was determined to be at its widest point at roughly 300 yards wide. The tornado snapped 15 power poles near the river and did heavy damage to the second floor of an apartment complex along Riverside Drive. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted in the city of Monroe from Louisville Avenue to the south and Forsythe Avenue to the north. This area received some of the strongest winds as witnessed by the density of severe damage to homes. The tornado continued east, causing damage to businesses and homes near Oliver Road, then lifting as it moved near the intersection of Lamy Lane and Armand Street. Significant to sporadic wind damage was noted along a wide swath along the east side of the path where the rear flank downdraft of the thunderstorm emanated and ultimately culminated in straight line wind gusts.

Wider weather episode

An upper level trough moved quickly into the Central and Southern Plains providing the necessary lift for scattered strong to severe thunderstorms across Northwest Texas and Western Oklahoma during the evening hours of Sunday, Oct. 12th. At the surface, a warm front was rapidly moving northward across East Texas and North Louisiana with low level moisture returning quickly in the wake of the northward moving warm front. A cold front in association with the upper level trough was rapidly moving eastward through Western Oklahoma and Texas. Overnight across Southeast Oklahoma, Southwest Arkansas, Northeast Texas and Northwest Louisiana, moderate instability was in place with increasing low and mid-level shear as the upper trough approached from the west. Storms eventually erupted ahead of the cold front across Central Oklahoma and Northern Texas, maturing into a squall line as it approached the region during the predawn hours of Monday, Oct. 13th. As the squall line traversed through the region, widespread wind damage was reported associated with straight line winds. Several short track, intense tornadoes developed along the leading edge of the squall line as well across portions of Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas and Northern Louisiana. The storms finally exited the region during the afternoon hours of Oct. 13th. Post-event Storm Surveys determined that 6 tornadoes occurred with this severe weather outbreak, one of which produced 1 fatality and 4 injuries in Little River County, Arkansas. Another tornado produced widespread damage across Ouachita Parish in Monroe, Louisiana.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4921, -92.2421)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 543201. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.