Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed in a moist and unstable airmass as an upper level disturbance moved across the area.
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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.
The episode as NWS LIX wrote it up.
Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed in a moist and unstable airmass as an upper level disturbance moved across the area.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS New Orleans, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 26, 2:41 PM CST, 23 hours 49 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 341 PM CDT SAT JUL 26 2008 .SHORT TERM... UPPER IMPULSE MOVING DOWN THE PERIPHERY OF THE UPPER RIDGE ACROSS EASTERN MISSISSIPPI AND WESTERN ALABAMA HAS SEVERAL WAVES OF MCS-LIKE STRUCTURES ADVANCING INTO THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON. THE AREA APPEARS TO FEATURE TWO SEPARATE AIRMASS CONDITIONS...A DEEPER MOISTURE...HIGHER PRECIPITABLE WATER COLUMN OVER THE EASTERN HALF AND A RELATIVELY DRIER AIRMASS WEST OF THE I-55 CORRIDOR...INDICATED BY UPPER 90S TEMPERATURES AND UPPER 60S DEW POINTS AT THE SURFACE. HIGHEST GUST MEASURED THUS FAR WAS 34 KTS /39 MPH/ AT HAMMOND AWOS IN THE PAST HOUR. THE VILS HAVE BEEN BOUNCING BETWEEN 55 AND 60 KG/M2 SO NO HAIL JUST YET. THE LOWER PARISHES HAVE BEEN UNSCATHED THUS FAR AND MAY BE THE FOCUS OF BEST CONVECTION DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AS OUTFLOWS MOVE ACROSS THE LAKE INTO MORE PRISTINE AIR. MUCH OF THE ACTIVITY SHOULD DIE OFF OVER LAND BY 9 PM WHILE MAINTAINING OVERNIGHT IN THE COASTAL WATERS. ASIDE FROM SHORT TERM CONVECTIVE CONCERNS...TYPICAL HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL THROUGH MONDAY WITH PERHAPS LESS COVERAGE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY AND MONDAY. .LONG TERM... WILL MAINTAIN NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT AND SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL RAIN CHANCES EACH DAY THROUGH FRIDAY. BACK-DOOR FRONTAL ZONE INDICATED BY MODELS APPEARS TO STALL WELL NORTH AND EAST OF THE AREA BUT MAY ALLOW FOR SOME DRAINAGE AIR TO AFFECT MIN TEMPS A DEGREE OR TWO GOING INTO NEXT WEEKEND. && .AVIATION... BEST CHANCES FOR CONVECTIVE IMPACTS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON WILL BE AT KMSY...KGPT AND KPQL THROUGH 01-02Z. OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL EXCEPT FOR BRIEF PERIOD MVFR VISIBILITY IN BR/HZ AT A FEW LOCATIONS BETWEEN 10-15Z. && .MARINE... SPECIAL MARINE WARNINGS MAY BE WARRANTED THROUGH THE EVENING FOR THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE COASTAL WATERS FROM THE NORTH. MAIN CONCERNS WILL BE GALE FORCE GUSTS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY PERSIST WELL INTO THE NIGHT MAINLY EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. OTHERWISE...NO ISSUES OF NOTE THROUGH FRIDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MCB 73 95 74 97 / 30 20 10 20 BTR 75 96 75 97 / 20 20 10 20 MSY 77 93 78 96 / 40 40 10 20 GPT 76 93 76 94 / 40 40 10 20 && .LIX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... LA...NONE. GM...NONE. MS...NONE. GM...NONE. && 24
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds snapped 6 large pine trees in the Meadowbrook subdivision.
Thunderstorm winds blew down 2 trees in the Crossgates subdivision.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down power lines and tree limbs.
A lightning strike started a fire that damaged a storage room in a building at Nicholls State University.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, July 2008
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: 126503, 126504, 126505, 126547.