Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana · 2011

EF0 tornado, Ogden to Dubberly, Louisiana, November 8, 2011

From Ogden to Dubberly, this EF0 tornado ran 2.9 miles across Webster Parish on November 8, 2011, touching down at 6:29 PM CST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

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

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
November 8, 2011
Touchdown
6:29 PM CST (00:29 UTC)
Lifted
6:33 PM CST (00:33 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
2.9 miles (4.7 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Webster Parish
Touchdown point
32.508, -93.246
Lift-off point
32.534, -93.206
Record number
1111081829-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SHV, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0.

  • tree down. shed destroyed behind the house

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A potent upper level storm system moved out of the Texas Hill County and into the Southern Plains during the afternoon of November 11th. Deep layer shear and low level shear was significant enough for supercells and mesocyclones during the afternoon and evening hours across the region given the instability in place. Discrete storms developed ahead of a strong cold front and some of these storms produced damaging wind gusts, large hail and tornadoes.

This tornado was part of the same supercell thunderstorm which spawned the tornadoes near Logansport and Elm Grove Louisiana. It was also one of two tornadoes in close proximity. The tornado first touched down along Hwy. 7 about 1.5 miles northwest of Heflin, Louisiana. The tornado then tracked northeast crossing Mason Fells Road and Hwy. 531 with several trees snapped and uprooted along the path before ending on Coussons Road, about 3 miles southeast of Dubberly, Louisiana. Winds were estimated at 75-80 mph.

This tornado was part of the same supercell thunderstorm which spawned the tornadoes near Logansport and Elm Grove, Louisiana. It was also one of two tornadoes in close proximity. This tornado first touched just west of the intersections of Coussons Road and Hwy. 531 and moved northeast snapping and uprooting several trees. The tornado crossed Magnolia Road and eventually lifted along Harvey���s Barber Shop Road where several large tree limbs were broken. Winds were estimated at 65-70 mph.

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

The warnings

29 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:00 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:33 UTC and running to 02:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:51 UTC23:33 UTCTornado WatchSHV
23:33 UTC02:45 UTCTornado WatchSHV
00:00 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningSHV
00:06 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHV
00:42 UTC01:14 UTCTornado WarningSHV

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 19:56 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.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 49 km from the path. November 9, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2011-11-09Temperature 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 -92998, lifted condensation level 697 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2011-11-09The 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 -77 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-92998 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-27 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:29 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
23:28 UTCTORNADO5 Se StonewallDe Soto, LATORNADO REPORTED ON THE GROUND BY AMATEUR RADIO...NEAR KICKAPOO OR BETWEEN KINGSTON AND FRIERSON.
23:50 UTCLIGHTNING5 W HomerClaiborne, LALIGHTNING STRUCK HOME AND HOME IS ON FIRE.
23:50 UTCTORNADO13 Se Bossier CityBossier, LAAN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG HWY 1 N OF ELLERBY RD...WHERE A FEW TREES WERE SNAPPED. A SPOTTER ALSO FILMED THE TORNADO AS IT CROSSED THE RED RIVER AND APPROACHED THE COMMUNTIY OF ELM GROVE. DAMAGE WAS MINIMAL AND LI
00:20 UTCTORNADO5 S SibleyWebster, LAAN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG HWY 7 AND SNAPPED A FEW TREES AS IT HEADED NE. THE TORNADO CROSSED MASON FELLS ROAD AND HWY 531 WHERE SEVERAL TREES WERE SNAPPED. THE TORNADO CONTINUED NE AND SNAPPED NUMEROUS TREES ON C
00:29 UTCTORNADO3 Se SibleyWebster, LAAN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST W OF THE INTERSECTION OF COUSSONS RD AND HWY 531 AND MOVED NE...SNAPPING AND UPROOTING SEVERAL TREES. THE TORNADO CROSSED MAGNOLIA RD AND EVENTUALLY LIFTED ALONG HARVEYS BARBER SHOP RD...
00:49 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nw GibslandBienville, LATREE DEBRIS NOTED ALONG INTERSTATE 20...BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 56 AND 57.
01:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S SimsboroLincoln, LATREES DOWN ON HWY 507 JUST SOUTH OF SIMSBORO.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in LouisianaEvery tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in Louisiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 8, 2011

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 81:37 PM CSTEF1Harris, TX0.3150$100,000
November 81:45 PM CSTEF1McCurtain, OK6.250$25,000
November 82:02 PM CSTEF1Nacogdoches, TX12.3150
November 83:34 PM CSTEF0Rusk, TX6.470
November 84:53 PM CSTEF2De Soto Parish, LA9.6200$300,000
November 85:50 PM CSTEF0Caddo Parish, LA2.975
November 86:00 PM CSTEF0Galveston, TX0.325$50,000
November 86:20 PM CSTEF0Webster Parish, LA5.675
November 87:58 PM CSTEF1Newton, TX3.6150$10,000
November 88:26 PM CSTEF1Sabine Parish, LA7.1200

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.