Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana · 2016

EF0 tornado, Vieux Carre, Louisiana, August 4, 2016

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Orleans Parish on August 4, 2016, touching down at 3:30 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2.

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
August 4, 2016
Touchdown
3:30 PM CDT (20:30 UTC)
Lifted
3:32 PM CDT (20:32 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
2
County
Orleans Parish
Touchdown point
29.969, -90.063
Lift-off point
29.966, -90.071
Record number
1608041430-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms developed during the afternoon in a hot, unstable airmass. One tornado was reported in the New Orleans area.

An NWS damage survey identified EF0 damage, approximately 80 mph, in the New Orleans 7th Ward. The damage path was approximately one half mile in length beginning at Marais and Annette Streets and ending at North Claiborne Avenue and St. Phillip Street. There were two minor injuries.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:39 UTC00:00 UTCHeat AdvisoryLIX
20:33 UTC22:24 UTCFlash Flood WarningLIX
20:35 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:01 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.

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 12:00Z

8.5 hours before the tornado, 47 km from the path. August 4, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2016-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2716 joules per kilogram, CIN -27, lifted condensation level 842 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2016-08-04The 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 -8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 5 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
2716 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2796 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
842 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 00:00Z

3.5 hours after it, 47 km from the path. August 5, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2016-08-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 218 joules per kilogram, CIN -141, lifted condensation level 1062 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2016-08-05The 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 -3 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 20 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
218 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-141 J/kg
Surface CAPE
355 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1062 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-23 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

New Orleans Downtown (7N0), 2 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:56 UTC9474 6 kt1014.6
19:56 UTC9576 3 kt1013.9
20:26 UTC96.875.2220° 8 kt141013.9TS
20:56 UTC8073140° 10 kt201015.6+TSRA
21:00 UTC80.671.640° 18 kt251015.9+TSRA
21:09 UTC78.869.840° 7 kt231014.9+TSRA
21:15 UTC80.671.630° 11 kt151015.6+TSRA
21:25 UTC7771.650° 8 kt181015.6+TSRA
21:56 UTC797480° 7 kt1015.2-TSRA

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

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sse Slidell AirportSt. Tammany, LATREE DOWN AT JAY ST
20:13 UTCTSTM WND DMGSlidell AirportSt. Tammany, LASMALL PARKED PLANE MOVED 40 FEET AND TOSSED UPSIDE DOWN
20:13 UTCTSTM WND GST 61Slidell AirportSt. Tammany, LA
20:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGNew OrleansOrleans, LADAMAGE REPORTED IN THE 7TH WARD ALONG CLAIBORNE AVE FROM ESPLANADE TO ORLEANS... FOUR STRUCTURES ALL OR PARTIALLY COLLAPSED. POWER LINES DOWN AND AND SOME SIDING DAMAGE.
20:30 UTCTORNADONew OrleansOrleans, LA*** 2 INJ *** NWS DAMAGE SURVEY HAS IDENTIFIED EF0...80 MPH TORNADO DAMAGE IN THE NEW ORLEANS 7TH WARD. A HALF MILE IN LENGTH BEGINNING AT MARIAS ST AND ANNETTE ST... ENDING AT NORTH CLAIBORNE AND ST PHILLIP ST. TWO MINO
20:30 UTCTORNADONew OrleansOrleans, LANWS DAMAGE SURVEY HAS IDENTIFIED EF0...80 MPH TORNADO DAMAGE IN THE NEW ORLEANS 7TH WARD. A HALF MILE IN LENGTH BEGINNING AT MARIAS ST AND ANNETTE ST... ENDING AT NORTH CLAIBORNE AND ST PHILLIP ST.
20:40 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 56MandevilleSt. Tammany, LAWEATHERFLOW STATION WIND GUST
21:00 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 394 Ene MetairieOrleans, LA34 KNOT/39 MPH WIND GUST MEASURED AT NEW CANAL /NWCL1/ C-MAN STATION.
21:18 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 474 Ne LaplaceSt. John The Bapti, LA41 KNOT/47 MPH WIND GUST MEASURED AT FRENIER LANDING /FREL1/ C-MAN STATION.
21:24 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 394 Ne LaplaceSt. John The Bapti, LA34 KNOT/39 MPH WIND GUST MEASURED AT FRENIER LANDING /FREL1/ C-MAN STATION.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in LouisianaEvery tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in Louisiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 4, 2016

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 411:20 AM CDTEF1Marathon, WI4.3250$100,000
August 41:40 PM EDTEF1Nassau, FL3.7200
August 45:21 PM CDTEF0Pottawattamie, IA0.615

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.