Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana

1988 tornadoes in Louisiana

36 tornadoes touched down in Louisiana in 1988, 10 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1987 1989 The whole country in 1988

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 1988

February 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 1	8:45 AM CST	F0	Iberia Parish	0.2	10			$50 to $500

March 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 2	8:21 PM CST	F1	Lafayette Parish	0.8	73			$5 million to $50 million
March 2	10:00 PM CST	F1	East Baton Rouge Parish	0.5	50		2	$50,000 to $500,000

March 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 29	6:00 PM CST	F1	Avoyelles Parish	1.0	250		2	$50,000 to $500,000

April 1 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
April 1	4:30 PM CST	F1	Caddo Parish	0.5	150
April 1	5:12 PM CST	F1	Bossier Parish	0.8	100
April 1	5:20 PM CST	F1	Bossier Parish	0.5	50
April 1	6:40 PM CST	F1	Caddo Parish	1.0	150

April 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 2	5:55 AM CST	F1	Saint Tammany Parish	1.7	60			$500,000 to $5 million

April 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 18	5:20 PM CDT	F0	Acadia Parish	0.2	20			$5,000 to $50,000

May 21 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 21	7:06 AM CDT	F1	Cameron Parish	0.5	60		$5,000 to $50,000
May 21	7:35 AM CDT	F1	Calcasieu Parish	0.8	73	1	$5,000 to $50,000
May 21	8:25 AM CDT	F0	Vermilion Parish	0.3	330		$50,000 to $500,000
May 21	8:40 AM CDT	F0	Vermilion Parish	0.3	30
May 21	10:00 AM CDT	F1	East Baton Rouge Parish	0.8	73		$50,000 to $500,000
May 21	11:07 AM CDT	F1	Livingston Parish	1.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000

June 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 18	8:25 PM CDT	F1	Saint Martin Parish	0.4	20			$5,000 to $50,000

July 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 4	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Rapides Parish	0.2	20

July 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 16	4:35 PM CDT	F0	Calcasieu Parish	0.2	20

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	3:20 PM CDT	F1	Terrebonne Parish	0.7	30			$5,000 to $50,000

September 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 3	12:45 PM CDT	F1	Saint Tammany Parish	0.3	20			$5,000 to $50,000

September 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 16	2:00 PM CDT	F0	Saint Tammany Parish	0.2	20			$500 to $5,000

September 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 25	5:40 PM CDT	F0	Jefferson Parish	0.2	20			$500 to $5,000

October 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 2	4:50 AM CDT	F0	Lafayette Parish	0.2	23			$500 to $5,000

October 26 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 26	11:30 AM CDT	F1	Calcasieu Parish	1.0	30	$500 to $5,000
October 26	12:00 PM CDT	F0	Calcasieu Parish	0.3	20
October 26	12:13 PM CDT	F1	Acadia Parish	0.5	40	$5,000 to $50,000
October 26	12:30 PM CDT	F1	Jefferson Davis Parish	0.5	40	$5,000 to $50,000
October 26	2:00 PM CDT	F0	Saint Martin Parish	0.3	30	$5,000 to $50,000

November 3 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
November 3	2:15 PM CST	F1	Cameron Parish	1.0	50
November 3	2:55 PM CST	F1	East Carroll Parish	0.2	10
November 3	3:10 PM CST	F1	Madison Parish	0.2	10

November 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 19	3:19 PM CST	F1	Webster Parish	0.2	10			$50 to $500
November 19	4:08 PM CST	F0	Natchitoches Parish	0.2	10

November 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 26	11:39 AM CST	F1	Madison Parish	0.2	10		2	$5,000 to $50,000

December 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 22	8:35 PM CST	F1	Vernon Parish	1.0	50		1	$50,000 to $500,000

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.