Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana · 2006

F1 tornado, Mire, Louisiana, December 30, 2006

This F1 tornado ran 2.4 miles across Acadia and Saint Landry parishes on December 30, 2006, touching down at 6:43 AM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $125,000 of property damage.

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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
December 30, 2006
Touchdown
6:43 AM CST (12:43 UTC)
Path length
2.4 miles (3.8 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$125,000
Counties
Acadia and Saint Landry parishes
Touchdown point
30.300, -92.180
Lift-off point
30.350, -92.140
Record number
1102

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms became severe across portions of Acadiana, producing flooding, hail, and tornadoes.

A tornado touched down east of Mire, damaging ten homes. No injuries were reported. Most of the damage was to roofs, blown out windows, destroyed sheds, and trees downed. One mobile home overturned but no one was home at the time. Another house had significant damage to the roof and carport.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:21 UTC and running to 15:43 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:42 UTC12:00 UTCTornado WatchLCH
05:26 UTC21:03 UTCFlash Flood WatchLCH
12:21 UTC15:43 UTCTornado WatchLCH
12:59 UTC13:36 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCH

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:22 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

0.7 hours before the tornado, 102 km from the path. December 30, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2006-12-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 17 joules per kilogram, CIN -211, lifted condensation level 693 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2006-12-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -202 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
17 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-211 J/kg
Surface CAPE
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
693 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-65 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

11.3 hours after it, 102 km from the path. December 31, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2006-12-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -52702, lifted condensation level 1256 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2006-12-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -93 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 66 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-52702 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1256 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
66 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:44 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
12:43 UTCTORNADO 11 E MireAcadia, LAPRELIMINARY REPORTS FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT...NEWS MEDIA...AND RADAR DATA INDICATE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN EAST OF MIRE AND RAPIDLY MOVED NORTHEAST. THE ROOF AND CARPORT OF ONE HOME ON GRAND PRAIRIE HIGHWAY PARTIALLY COLLAPSED
12:45 UTCTORNADO7 Sse Church PointAcadia, LAACADIA PARISH SHERIFF OFFICE RECEIVED REPORT OF TORNADO WITH DAMAGE TO A RESIDENCE. LOCATION AND TIME APPROXIMATE.
12:45 UTCTORNADOMireAcadia, LATORNADO NEAR MIRE CAUSED ROOF DAMAGE TO HOMES AND DAMAGED A PORCH OF ANOTHER HOME. SEVERAL VEHICLES HAD WINDOWS BLOWN OUT AND A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN. REPORTED BY KLFY-TV. TIME APPROXIMATE.
12:48 UTCTORNADO 12 Wsw CanktonSt. Landry, LATORNADO FROM ACADIA PARISH BRIEFLY MOVED INTO ST. LANDRY PARISH BEFORE DISSIPATING. A LARGE SHED BEHIND A HOME ON OSAGE TRAIL WAS DESTROYED WITH DEBRIS BLOWN INTO TREES AND ACROSS FIELDS BEFORE TORNADO LIFTED. PRELIMINAR
12:50 UTCTORNADOCanktonSt. Landry, LAPUBLIC REPORTED POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGED A HOUSE NEAR CANKTON. REPORT VIA KATC-TV.
13:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG9 E Ville PlatteSt. Landry, LAPUBLIC REPORT OF ROOF DAMAGE TO HOME ALONG GRAND PRAIRIE HIGHWAY. REPORTED BY KATC-TV.
13:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 732 S KaplanVermilion, LAPUBLIC IN HARGRAVE AREA REPORTED WIND GUST TO 73 MPH ON HOME WIND EQUIPMENT
13:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGScottLafayette, LAFIREWORKS STAND BLOWN ONTO SEVERAL CARS NEAR SCOTT
13:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGOpelousasSt. Landry, LAA FEW POWER LINES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE PARISH. REPORTED BY ST LANDRY PARISH SHERIFF OFFICE.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in LouisianaEvery tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in Louisiana nowThe forecast where you are

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.