Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana · 2012

EF0 tornado, Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, June 30, 2012

This EF0 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Cameron Parish on June 30, 2012, touching down at 12:00 PM CDT and reaching 50 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
June 30, 2012
Touchdown
12:00 PM CDT (17:00 UTC)
Lifted
12:07 PM CDT (17:07 UTC)
On the ground
7 minutes
Path length
1.4 miles (2.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cameron Parish
Touchdown point
29.788, -93.690
Lift-off point
29.808, -93.689
Record number
1206301100-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado occurred in the marsh between Johnson's Bayou and the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.

Reports were relayed to the National Weather Service office of a funnel cloud over Johnson���s Bayou moving north. The funnel developed farther and touched down just north of Smith Ridge Road. The tornado was on the ground for about 5 to 10 minutes and was over the open marsh.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:03 UTC17:15 UTCTornado 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 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

5.0 hours before the tornado, 59 km from the path. June 30, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-06-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1037 joules per kilogram, CIN -72, lifted condensation level 943 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 2012-06-30The 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 18 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 14 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1037 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-72 J/kg
Surface CAPE
600 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
943 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

7.0 hours after it, 59 km from the path. July 1, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-07-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1764 joules per kilogram, CIN -13, lifted condensation level 779 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 00:00Z on 2012-07-01The 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 30 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1764 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2960 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
779 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Orange (ORG), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
15:15 UTC7773.4190° 12 kt161014.9+TSRA
15:35 UTC73.473.470° 11 kt1014.6-TSRA
15:55 UTC73.473.40° 0 kt1014.2-TSRA
16:15 UTC7775.20° 0 kt1014.6VCTS
16:35 UTC7775.20° 0 kt1014.6-TSRA
16:55 UTC77770° 0 kt1014.2VCTSRA
17:15 UTC77770° 0 kt1014.6-VCTSRA
17:35 UTC78.8770° 0 kt1014.9-VCTSDZ
17:55 UTC7777190° 6 kt1014.9TSRA
18:15 UTC73.471.6160° 8 kt1015.2+TSRA
18:35 UTC73.473.480° 3 kt1014.6RA
18:55 UTC78.875.280° 3 kt1014.2

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:00 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
17:00 UTCTORNADOJohnson BayouCameron, LAREPORTS WERE RELAYED TO THE NWS OFFICE OF A FUNNEL CLOUD OVER JB MOVING NORTH. THE FUNNEL DEVELOPED FARTHER AND TOUCHED DOWN JUST NORTH OF SMITH RIDGE ROAD. THE TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 5 TO 10 MINUTES AND WAS
18:15 UTCWATER SPOUT1 S CameronCameron, LAA WATERSPOUT WAS SIGHTED ABOUT ONE MILE SOUTH OF THE CAMERON FISHING WARF. THE WATERSPOUT WAS ON THE WATER SURFACE FOR LESS THAN A MINUTE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in LouisianaEvery tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in Louisiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 30, 2012

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 308:11 PM EDTEF0Hanover, VA6.2100$15,000

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.