Tornado, Jefferson
- When
- July 14, 3:05 PM CST
- Where
- Jefferson County, Port Arthur
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 1.5 mi
- Path width
- 20 yd
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Coordinates
- 29.900, -93.930
Tornado in Texas, July 14, 1997
A small tornado formed along a thunderstorm outflow, tearing through the Chevron Oil Plant. Three men received minor bumps and scrapes when hit by debris from the tornado.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 3
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS LCH wrote it up.
A small tornado formed along a thunderstorm outflow, tearing through the Chevron Oil Plant. Three men received minor bumps and scrapes when hit by debris from the tornado. The tornado move east to west, and dissipated in the bayous behind the plant. Severe thunderstorm winds that preced the tornado also blew throughout the city of Port Arthur, resulting in numerous trees and power lines down.
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:02 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Illinois, July 14 to 18, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 14, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Ohio, July 14, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Texas, July 14, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, July 14, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Minnesota, July 14, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, July 14, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, July 14, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, July 14, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, July 14, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Texas, July 14, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 14, 1997
More
Every storm in Texas in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 1997Warnings in Texas, July 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5611761.