Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana

1960 tornadoes in Louisiana

9 tornadoes touched down in Louisiana in 1960, 72 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1959 1961 The whole country in 1960

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Louisiana in 1960

January 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 1411:20 AM GMT-6F0Caddo Parish4.520$5,000 to $50,000

February 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 34:15 PM GMT-6F2Lafourche Parish4.31008$50,000 to $500,000

February 17 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 176:00 PM GMT-6F1Calcasieu Parish1.0100$5,000 to $50,000
February 178:30 PM GMT-6F1Lafayette Parish10.6183$50,000 to $500,000

March 29 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 295:30 AM GMT-6F0Tangipahoa Parish0.533$500 to $5,000

April 29 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 296:00 PM GMT-5F2Jefferson Davis Parish13.81,6674$5,000 to $50,000
April 297:00 PM GMT-5F1Vermilion Parish33.2450$50,000 to $500,000

June 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 94:10 PM GMT-5F1Evangeline Parish1.033$5,000 to $50,000

September 22 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 225:30 PM GMT-5F1Jackson Parish0.533$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in LouisianaThe live radar over Louisiana

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.