EF2 tornado in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

This is a continuation of the Southern Webster Parish EF-2 tornado. This tornado continued on the ground intermittently east-northeast throughout Southern Claiborne Parish, snapping and uprooting numerous trees as it crossed Harris Road, Old Arcadia Road, Faulk Road, Sherrill Road, and Highway 154 south of Athens. The tornado produced partial roof damage to approximately a half dozen chicken houses and shingle and partial roof damage to several other structures, especially off of Buckner Road, Cook Road, and Highway 519 before finally lifting. In addition, widespread straight line winds estimated at 90-100 mph along the path of the tornado led to extensive tree damage. Estimated maximum winds from this tornado throughout Southern Claiborne Parish ranged from 90-105 mph, consistent with an EF-1 tornado but weaker than the estimated maximum winds near 135 mph that was surveyed in Eastern Bossier Parish. The total track length of this tornado when it initially touched down in Central Bossier Parish to when it lifted in Southern Claiborne Parish was just under 41 miles.

An upper level longwave trough emerged out of the Intermountain West and into the Central and Southern Plains during the daytime and evening hours of January 10th. A strong southerly return flow commenced out ahead of the trough during the 8th-9th, allowing for unseasonably warm and humid conditions to advance northward across Southern Oklahoma, much of Central and Eastern Texas, as well as Louisiana, Arkansas, and the Lower Mississippi Valley. Meanwhile, an intensifying surface low pressure system and associated dry line developed along the Red River of North Texas into Southern Oklahoma during the afternoon hours, which spread east northeast across the Ark-La-Tex during the early morning hours on January 11th. With afternoon temperatures climbing into the mid 70s ahead of this trough, moderate instability developed across the broad warm sector, with very strong wind shear in place as large scale forcing increased ahead of the trough axis across East Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, Southwest Arkansas, and North Louisiana. Thus, an axis of strong to severe showers and thunderstorms developed during the evening hours across Southeast Oklahoma, adjacent sections of Southwest Arkansas and East Texas, which advanced east into North Louisiana during the early morning hours of the 11th. Widespread damaging winds downed trees and power lines across much of Northwest and Northcentral Louisiana, with even a long track tornado developing along the line of severe thunderstorms across Central Bossier, Southern Webster, and Southern Claiborne Parishes. Another isolated tornado touched down in Western Union Parish, before these storms exited the region shortly before daybreak on the 11th. Unfortunately, these storms resulted in four fatalities across Northwest Louisiana, three of which occurred from the Haughton tornado.