Home / Louisiana / Tensas

F3 tornado in Tensas Parish, Louisiana

Tornado January 21, 1999 · Tensas Parish, Louisiana

Rating

22.0 mi

Whole path

440 yd

Path width

$505K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 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 combined fifty house trailers and houses were completely destroyed by this tornado. Hundreds of trees were either downed or snapped off. A metal fishing boat was wrapped around a tree. Many cotton hoppers were flipped over several times. Vehicles were thrown 250 to 300 feet, one of which was left suspended in a tree.

Began near New Light (32.0300, -91.5000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F1 Morehouse Parish F1 Catahoula Parish F1 Madison Parish F0 West Carroll Parish F0 Catahoula Parish F0 Franklin Parish

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5681642. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.