Louisiana, 2024

Hail in Louisiana, March 4 to 5, 2024

March 4 to 5, 2024 · NWS SHV · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across portions of Deep East Texas, North & Central Louisiana, and Southern Arkansas during the late morning hours on March 4th, and continued well into the late afternoon and early evening as a strong upper level disturbance moved across the region. With low wet-bulb zero heights, steep mid-level lapse rates, and sufficient effective bulk shear, the…

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
5

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 SHV wrote it up.

Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across portions of Deep East Texas, North & Central Louisiana, and Southern Arkansas during the late morning hours on March 4th, and continued well into the late afternoon and early evening as a strong upper level disturbance moved across the region. With low wet-bulb zero heights, steep mid-level lapse rates, and sufficient effective bulk shear, the atmosphere was conducive for storms to produce hail. Several reports of 1 inch hail were received, mainly across portions of Northeast and Central Louisiana.

What forecasters said that day

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 Mar 4, 12:06 PM CST, 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 12:06 PM CST, 23 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 4, 6:11 AM CST, 6 hours 18 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 4, 12:10 PM CST, 19 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Grant

When
March 4, 12:29 PM CST
Where
Grant County, 4.15 mi N of Antonia
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
31.630, -92.420

Quarter size hail reported along U.S. Highway 165 south of Georgetown.

Hail, La Salle

When
March 4, 1:02 PM CST
Where
La Salle County, 2.07 mi S of Urania
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
31.840, -92.300

Quarter size hail reported along U.S. Highway 165.

Hail, Caldwell

When
March 4, 1:45 PM CST
Where
Caldwell County, 0.69 mi N of Columbia
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
Broadcast Media
Coordinates
32.110, -92.080

Quarter size hail reported just west of Columbia.

Hail, Union

When
March 4, 3:09 PM CST
Where
Union County, 1.35 mi ENE of Cooley
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
32.880, -92.610

Quarter size hail reported along Barnes Bridge Road between Spearsville and Bernice.

Hail, Red River

When
March 5, 4:59 AM CST
Where
Red River County, 1.36 mi ENE of Halfway
Measured
1.25 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
32.130, -93.350

Half dollar size hail reported along Highway 783.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Louisiana in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, March 2024

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1169230, 1169231, 1169232, 1169233, 1169234.