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EF1 tornado in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana

Tornado April 22, 2020 · Catahoula Parish, Louisiana

EF1

Rating

11.6 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

$115K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado began in far southern Catahoula Parish near the Red River Lock. It traveled along the Catahoula Parish /Avoyelles Parish border, where it damaged trees and mobile homes along Lula Willey Road. It then crossed the Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge where it caused considerable tree damage before crossing back into Catahoula Parish and ended before reaching Moody Road. The maximum estimated wind speed was 110 mph with an overall rating of EF1. The maximum path width was 0.68 miles. Total path length was 7.61 miles.

The wider storm

An upper level storm system moved across the region overnight on April 22nd into 23rd. Abundant moisture and wind energy was in place to bring severe thunderstorms to the region. Damaging winds occurred along with some tornadoes. Flash flooding also occurred with efficient rainfall rates and heavy rainfall. As the cold front moved through the region later during the afternoon of the 23rd, a few more storms developed during peak daytime heating and brought some hail and damaging winds to portions of eastern Mississippi.

Began near Book (31.2786, -91.8680).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 901833. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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