Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana

1984 tornadoes in Louisiana

29 tornadoes touched down in Louisiana in 1984, 11 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1983 1985 The whole country in 1984

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1984

February 12 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 12	12:40 PM CST	F1	Terrebonne Parish	0.5	100			$50,000 to $500,000
February 12	2:00 PM CST	F1	Washington Parish	0.5	30		2	$50,000 to $500,000

March 4 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 4	2:30 PM CST	F1	Caddo Parish	0.5	100	$50,000 to $500,000
March 4	2:40 PM CST	F0	Caddo Parish	0.1	50	$5,000 to $50,000
March 4	3:08 PM CST	F1	Bossier Parish	8.0	100	$50,000 to $500,000
March 4	5:10 PM CST	F0	De Soto Parish	0.1	50	$5,000 to $50,000

March 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 27	6:05 PM CST	F1	Claiborne Parish	2.0	150			$5,000 to $50,000
March 27	6:40 PM CST	F1	Caddo Parish	0.1	100			$5,000 to $50,000

April 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 8	1:30 PM CST	F1	Claiborne Parish	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000
April 8	2:50 PM CST	F0	Lincoln Parish	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

April 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 26	2:15 PM CST	F1	Richland Parish	2.0	100			$50,000 to $500,000

May 1 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 1	1:10 PM CDT	F1	Union Parish	0.5	100	$50,000 to $500,000
May 1	1:45 PM CDT	F1	Jackson Parish	0.1	10
May 1	1:50 PM CDT	F1	Morehouse Parish	0.1	10

May 2 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 2	7:40 PM CDT	F3	De Soto Parish	61.0	250	9	$5 million to $50 million
May 2	9:30 PM CDT	F2	Lincoln Parish	15.0	150		$5,000 to $50,000
May 2	11:20 PM CDT	F2	West Carroll Parish	7.0	150	4	$50,000 to $500,000

May 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 3	7:35 PM CDT	F0	West Baton Rouge Parish	0.1	10

May 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	6:25 PM CDT	F0	Ouachita Parish	0.5	77			$5,000 to $50,000
May 7	7:30 PM CDT	F3	East Carroll Parish	1.0	100			$50,000 to $500,000

May 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	5:10 AM CDT	F3	Cameron Parish	3.0	150			$500,000 to $5 million

May 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 21	2:50 PM CDT	F1	Rapides Parish	5.0	100			$500 to $5,000

June 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	1:55 AM CDT	F2	Avoyelles Parish	1.0	100		3	$50,000 to $500,000

July 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	10:00 AM CDT	F0	Cameron Parish	0.1	10

August 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 7	8:00 PM CDT	F1	Livingston Parish	0.2	10			$50,000 to $500,000

September 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 12	7:05 PM CDT	F1	St. Mary Parish	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

September 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 21	2:05 PM CDT	F1	Cameron Parish	0.1	10			$50,000 to $500,000

October 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 14	5:00 PM CDT	F3	East Baton Rouge Parish	16.0	150		3	$50,000 to $500,000

November 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 10	7:30 AM CST	F2	Morehouse Parish	2.0	100		5	$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Louisiana since 1950 Warnings in force in Louisiana The 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.