During the early afternoon hours of July 23rd, a complex of showers and thunderstorms moved southeast into Eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas, after originally developing early that morning across portions of Nebraska and central Kansas. This complex encountered a very unstable air mass near a weak surface trough over Northern and Eastern Oklahoma and Northern Arkansas as it continued…
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 SHV wrote it up.
During the early afternoon hours of July 23rd, a complex of showers and thunderstorms moved southeast into Eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas, after originally developing early that morning across portions of Nebraska and central Kansas. This complex encountered a very unstable air mass near a weak surface trough over Northern and Eastern Oklahoma and Northern Arkansas as it continued southeastward. At the same time, other scattered showers and thunderstorms developed over Central and Eastern Arkansas near this surface trough, while also aided by a weak upper level disturbance sinking south across Arkansas and the Mid-Mississippi Valley. The Eastern Oklahoma storm complex absorbed the growing storm complex over Central Arkansas, resulting in a large mesoscale convective system (MCS) intensifying and surging south into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas during the mid and late afternoon hours. Widespread wind damage was reported across much of Central and Southern Arkansas as well as Southeast Oklahoma, with a large cold pool of air surging south into Northeast Texas and North Louisiana by late afternoon and early evening. Wind gusts ranged from 50-70 mph with this MCS as it surged south across much of the Ark-La-Tex, resulting in numerous downed trees, power lines, and structural damage. This storm complex weakened during the early evening hours, although the resultant cold pool still produced 40-45 mph wind gusts which produced minor tree damage over portions of Deep East Texas that did not see showers or thunderstorms. Over 500,000 AEP SWEPCO customers were without power after the storms blew through, with many thousands of other customers with other utility companies also without power.
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 23, 5:46 PM CST, 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 646 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014 .DISCUSSION... FORECAST ADJUSTMENT NECESSARY IN ORDER TO ACCOUNT FOR THE NEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 436 IN EFFECT THROUGH MIDNIGHT ACROSS THE INTERSTATE 20 CORRIDOR. ALSO...WITH CONVECTION EXITING SOME AREAS ACROSS SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTHEAST TEXAS...AND SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...WENT AHEAD AND CANCELED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 431. WATCH 434 REMAINS INTACT AND IS SET TO EXPIRE AT 10 PM. /05/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 74 96 75 96 75 / 30 30 10 10 0 MLU 72 93 70 93 73 / 30 30 10 10 0 DEQ 72 93 70 96 72 / 40 20 10 10 0 TXK 73 94 70 95 74 / 40 20 10 10 0 ELD 72 93 68 93 72 / 30 20 10 10 0 TYR 74 97 76 98 76 / 30 20 10 10 0 GGG 73 95 75 96 75 / 30 20 10 10 0 LFK 74 97 75 97 75 / 30 20 20 10 0 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && 05
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1152 AM CDT WED JUL 23 2014 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077- TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-241200- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION AR-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN- UNION LA-DE SOTO-RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE LA- NATCHITOCHES-WINN-GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE-MCCURTAIN-BOWIE- FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP-MORRIS-CASS-WOOD-UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG- HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK-PANOLA-NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA- SAN AUGUSTINE-SABINE TX- 1152 AM CDT WED JUL 23 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING OVER SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST TEXAS...WELL IN ADVANCE OF A WEAK SURFACE BOUNDARY THAT WILL SINK SLOWLY SOUTH ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN ARKANSAS. THESE STORMS SHOULD ALSO DEVELOP OVER CENTRAL ARKANSAS NEAR AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...AND WILL BUILD SOUTHWEST ACROSS THESE AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. ANOTHER COMPLEX OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHEAST KANSAS MAY BECOME ABSORBED INTO THE SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS THUNDERSTORMS...AND ACCELERATE SOUTHWEST ALONG THE INTERSTATE 30 CORRIDOR. THIS MAY RESULT IN A SMALL SEVERE THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL THROUGH EARLY EVENING BEFORE DIMINISHING WITH THE LOSS OF HEATING AND INSTABILITY. ELSEWHERE...ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING OVER NORTHCENTRAL LOUISIANA AND POSSIBLY DEEP EAST TEXAS...ON THE BACKSIDE OF AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA. BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL AND LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE STRONGER STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THURSDAY...NEAR A WEAK SURFACE BOUNDARY THAT MAY BECOME STATIONARY OVER NORTHEAST TEXAS AND NORTH LOUISIANA. RAIN CHANCES WILL DIMINISH FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND...AS AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM BUILDS EAST INTO THE REGION...RESULTING IN TEMPERATURES CLIMBING TO THE UPPER 90S TO NEAR 100 DEGREES. THIS WILL RESULT IN HEAT INDICES RANGING FROM 100 TO 105 DEGREES THIS WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS...SKYWARN NETWORKS...AND AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS...MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING OVER NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS. 15
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
539 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0504 PM TSTM WND DMG BROKEN BOW 34.03N 94.74W
07/23/2014 MCCURTAIN OK LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ALL OVER CITY OF BROKEN BOW
&&
EVENT NUMBER SHV1400447
25PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
557 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0448 PM TSTM WND DMG DE QUEEN 34.04N 94.34W
07/23/2014 SEVIER AR PUBLIC
POWER LINS DOWN AND TREES UPROOTED ON CROSSTRAILS ROAD.
&&
EVENT NUMBER SHV1400448
25PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
605 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0604 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 E TEXARKANA 33.45N 93.93W
07/23/2014 MILLER AR PUBLIC
POWER LINES DOWN
&&
EVENT NUMBER SHV1400449
25PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
614 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG PRESCOTT 33.80N 93.39W
07/23/2014 NEVADA AR LAW ENFORCEMENT
SEVERAL TREES REPORTED DOWN
&&
EVENT NUMBER SHV1400450
25PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
620 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0535 PM TSTM WND DMG TEXARKANA 33.45N 94.02W
07/23/2014 MILLER AR AMATEUR RADIO
WIDE SPREAD POWER OUTAGES THROUGH CITY
&&
EVENT NUMBER SHV1400452
25SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
647 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
LAZ021-240030-
CALDWELL-
647 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2014
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY...EFFECTIVE UNTIL 730 PM CDT...FOR THE FOLLOWING
PARISH...
IN NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...
CALDWELL...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
CLARKS...COLUMBIA AND GRAYSON...
AT 647 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS WERE
DETECTING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR COLUMBIA...MOVING SOUTHWEST AT
10 MPH.
PEA SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS OF 40 TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS
STORM. SHOULD THIS STORM INTENSIFY...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
WILL BE NEEDED.
15The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:52 UTC.
15 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees and powerlines were downed across the entire parish.
Trees and powerlines were downed across the entire parish.
Thunderstorm wind gusts downed a tree that fell on a home north of Minden, Louisiana.
Large limbs were downed on Hwy. 559 in Columbia, Louisiana.
Trees were downed in the Shady Grove subdivision along with roof damage to at least one home.
Trees were downed in Columbia, Louisiana.
Trees and powerlines were downed near Swan Lake in Bossier.
A tree fell on a home in the Dogwood Subdivision. A tin roof was peeled back on a mobile home near Bellevue Road and Parker Road.
A tree was downed on a duplex on Ratcliff Street in Shreveport.
A 64 year old female was walking in the 1900 block of Weinstock Street and was killed by a tree that fell on top of her.
A large 80ft oak tree fell on top of a house at Kingston Road and Melba Street in south Shreveport.
Trees and powerlines were downed across the entire parish.
Trees and powerlines were downed throughout the entire parish.
Trees were downed in and near the Lillie community.
Trees were downed in Hall Summit, Louisiana.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind, Caddo | 2014-07-23 | 64 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, July 2014
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: 522721, 522722, 522723, 522724, 522725, 522744, 522727, 522728, 522732, 522734, 522735, 522737, 522738, 523072, 522743.