Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana

2002 tornadoes in Louisiana

33 tornadoes touched down in Louisiana in 2002, about the average of the record for the state. They killed 2 people and injured 8.

2001 2003 The whole country in 2002

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 2002

March 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 20	12:15 PM CST	F0	Saint James Parish	0.2	20			$40,000

March 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 31	10:40 AM CST	F1	Terrebonne Parish	0.5	30			$70,000

August 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 22	12:25 PM CDT	F0	Saint Charles Parish	0.2	20

September 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 25	12:30 AM CDT	F1	Lafourche Parish	0.5	50

October 3 16 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 3	8:40 AM CDT	F1	Saint Tammany Parish	0.3	30	$30,000
October 3	9:30 AM CDT	F1	Terrebonne Parish	0.3	30	$30,000
October 3	11:06 AM CDT	F0	Lafayette Parish	1.0	20	$30,000
October 3	11:08 AM CDT	F1	Acadia Parish	1.0	20	$500,000
October 3	11:25 AM CDT	F0	Acadia Parish	1.0	20	$30,000
October 3	11:28 AM CDT	F0	Lafayette Parish	1.0	10	$1.0 million
October 3	11:30 AM CDT	F0	Saint Tammany Parish	0.3	25	$30,000
October 3	11:43 AM CDT	F0	Acadia Parish	1.0	10	$30,000
October 3	11:55 AM CDT	F0	Lafayette Parish	1.0	10	$10,000
October 3	11:58 AM CDT	F0	Acadia Parish	1.0	10	$30,000
October 3	12:22 PM CDT	F0	Evangeline Parish	1.0	10	$30,000
October 3	12:28 PM CDT	F0	Acadia Parish	1.0	10	$10,000
October 3	1:15 PM CDT	F0	Evangeline Parish	1.0	10	$30,000
October 3	3:00 PM CDT	F0	Rapides Parish	1.0	15	$10,000
October 3	4:52 PM CDT	F1	LaSalle Parish	2.5	25
October 3	5:30 PM CDT	F0	Rapides Parish	1.0	10	$10,000

October 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 9	2:02 PM CDT	F1	Assumption Parish	0.5	50			$1.5 million

October 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 25	6:05 PM CDT	F0	Saint Charles Parish	0.1	20

October 29 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 29	12:53 AM CST	F1	Beauregard Parish	2.0	20		2	$310,000
October 29	2:45 AM CST	F2	Acadia Parish	10.5	50	2	3	$210,000
October 29	3:10 AM CST	F2	Saint Landry Parish	5.0	20			$5.0 million
October 29	4:00 AM CST	F1	Pointe Coupee Parish	0.5	30			$30,000
October 29	4:45 AM CST	F1	East Baton Rouge Parish	7.0	100			$750,000

November 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 5	9:50 AM CST	F1	Saint Charles Parish	0.3	75		2	$30,000

November 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 11	12:55 AM CST	F1	Saint Tammany Parish	0.3	150			$40,000

December 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 18	3:55 PM CST	F2	Union Parish to AR	20.2	110			$1.0 million
December 18	7:10 PM CST	F1	Caddo Parish	2.3	80

December 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 19	1:30 PM CST	F0	Saint Charles Parish	5.0	20

December 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 30	11:55 PM CST	F1	Calcasieu Parish	3.0	20		1	$7.0 million

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.