EF2 tornado, Mc Nary to Alexandria Southwest, Louisiana, April 2, 2017

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

April 2, 2017

Touchdown

2:50 PM CDT (19:50 UTC)

Lifted

2:59 PM CDT (19:59 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

6.1 miles (9.8 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

County

Rapides Parish

Touchdown point

31.125, -92.537

Lift-off point

31.214, -92.534

Record number

1704021350-01

42 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LCH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

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

A cold front and upper trough pushed through the region with severe storms ahead of the system. The very soupy air mass also produced high amounts of rainfall that lead to flooding.

A few pine trees were snapped between Glenmora and Forest Hill.|Most damage was medium to small branches. The storm began near McNary Cutoff and|LA 113 and dissipated near LA 112 and US 165. The maximum estimated wind speed was 105 MPH.

The tornado began near Bayou Clear and moved north across Bayou|Clear Road where 4 homes were damaged by falling trees. The tornado continued|north across Castor Plunge Road where it reached its maximum width of around|half a mile. Many pine trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado dissipated|near Bayou Boeuf. Most of the path was in the Kisatchie National Forest. This|tornado was seen and filmed by many people in the area. The maximum wind speed was estimated at 120 MPH.

The tornado touched down near US 165 and Bowie Drive, blowing down|several trees, damaging a gas station awning, and blowing the doors in and the|side of a large storage building. It crossed to the west side of US 165 where it|hit residential areas including Cherokee Village and Plantation Acres where|many trees were downed, some landing on homes, garages, and vehicles. Some|buildings had minor roof damage such as shingles or soffit pulled off. The|tornado continued into a business district along Jackson Street west of US 165|where it lifted parts of flat roofs off of businesses. Some of the flying|debris broke windows of vehicles and businesses in the area, as well as|large billboard and other signage. The tornado continued north, crossing|the intersection of LA 28 and US Hwy 165, and dissipated before it reached|I-49. This tornado was seen and filmed by many people in the area. The maximum wind speed was 105 MPH.

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

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:35 UTC and running to 01:24 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:27 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 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.

Alexandria International/England Afb (AEX), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:53 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in LouisianaEvery tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in Louisiana nowThe forecast where you are

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.