EF2 Tornado — Sabine, Louisiana

2022-01-09 · near Peason Dam, Sabine, Louisiana

Event narrative

A strong and wide EF-2 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 125 mph touched down near Peason Road in the Peason community and tracked northeast before lifting shortly after passing Bridges Road. Radar data suggests that the starting point could have been slightly farther southwest than what is indicated in the survey and the ending point could have been slightly farther northeast than what was indicated. However, limited public road access prevented a more accurate starting and ending point.

The maximum width of this tornado was approximately a half a mile, which allowed many residences and structures to be affected. Approximately 30 homes were damaged, with 10-15 homes either heavily damaged, destroyed, or rendered unlivable. The survey suggested that the tornado was most intense in a narrower corridor from Highway 118 where it crossed McInnis Road, where damage indicators of several structures suggested EF-2 winds. The peak wind speed of 125 mph was associated with a completely destroyed mobile home which had its remnants blown approximately 60 feet and piled up against a tree line. A family of 5 inside the mobile home were all injured, with a couple receiving critical injuries. Another injury occurred farther downstream from this area but this injury was not critical. In addition to damage to residences, there were scores of farms and outbuildings which were generally destroyed, with casualties of at least two horses.

This tornado was quite anomalous for its above average width in relation to its relatively short path length. There were a few EF-2 damage points associated with extreme swaths of tree damage, although little tree debarking was seen. It is estimated that at least 1000 trees were either snapped or uprooted from this tornado.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level low pressure system tracked east across the Red River Valley of Southern Oklahoma and North Texas during the afternoon of January 8th, before shifting across Northeast Texas into Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 9th. Ahead of this low, strong southerly low level winds rapidly transported low level moisture back north across the region, with large scale forcing and elevated instability ahead of the low contributing to areas of showers and embedded thunderstorms over East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas. Meanwhile, a warm front had spread north into portions of Deep East Texas and Central Louisiana during the late evening and early morning hours, with increasing instability and low level wind shear fueling the development of strong to severe thunderstorms over these areas. These storms produced damaging winds which downed trees and power lines, and also spawned two tornadoes in Southern Sabine Parish before gradually weakening as they shifted northeast away from the front.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.4132, -93.3238)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 993932. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.