Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana · 2019
EF0 tornado, Mamou to Tate Cove, Louisiana, May 19, 2019
From Mamou to Tate Cove, this EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Evangeline Parish on May 19, 2019, touching down at 5:42 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 of property damage.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- May 19, 2019
- Touchdown
- 5:42 AM CDT (10:42 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:43 AM CDT (10:43 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- County
- Evangeline Parish
- Touchdown point
- 30.604, -92.400
- Lift-off point
- 30.605, -92.404
- Record number
- 1905190442-01
The damage survey
1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LCH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 81 mph.
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 cold front moved into the region and stalled on the 19th. Multiple short waves moved across the region during the time causing severe weather and tornadoes. A strong area of low pressure developed on the boundary by the 21st causing coastal flooding before the front finally pushed deeper into the gulf.
A tornado briefly touched down along Gradney Lane. The storm pulled a manufactured home off of its blocks and into the intersection of Gradney Lane and L'anse Meg Road. The tornado crossed L'anse Meg Road before dissipating in a nearby field. Max estimated winds were 90 mph.
A tornado touched down in a field just north of Wagon Trail Road and then began moving towards the ENE paralleling Perron Road. In addition to snapped trees and tree limbs, the tornado caused damage to several residences in the Point Blue community, removing the roof of one house and severely damaging others. The tornado then advanced towards the ENE moving through the Belair Cove community, destroying one manufactured home and flipping another nearby on Mars Rice Road. The tornado continued towards the ENE eventually dissipating after crossing HWY 167.
A tornado touched down on the southern end of Ville Platte south of West Hickory St. The tornado then crossed Main St and W LaSalle Street snapping numerous trees and power poles. The tornado then paralleled Tate cove road continuing to snap trees before dissipating near the intersection of Tate Cove and Theophile Road. Max wind speed was estimated at 90 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
16 minutes of warning. NWS LCH issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:26 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:01 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 06:49 UTC and running to 13:54 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:49 UTC | 13:54 UTC | Tornado Watch | LCH |
| 09:58 UTC | 10:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
| 10:12 UTC | 10:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 10:26 UTC | 11:01 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 10:36 UTC | 11:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
| 10:43 UTC | 11:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 10:56 UTC | 11:17 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 00:00 UTC | 01:54 UTC | Flood Warning | LCH |
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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:02 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), 00:00Z
10.7 hours before the tornado, 94 km from the path. May 19, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2638 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3022 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 729 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 177 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.8
- Supercell composite
- 9.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.7 K/km
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z
1.3 hours after it, 94 km from the path. May 19, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2876 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3804 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 535 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 161 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 262 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.7
- Supercell composite
- 19.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.1 K/km
The surface observations
Opelousas (OPL), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:55 UTC | 77.2 | 73.4 | 150° 14 kt | 20 | 1010.2 | RA |
| 09:15 UTC | 76.8 | 73.8 | 150° 12 kt | 18 | 1009.5 | |
| 09:35 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 150° 14 kt | 21 | 1009.8 | VCTS |
| 09:55 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 150° 11 kt | 18 | 1009.5 | VCTS |
| 10:15 UTC | 77.2 | 73.2 | 150° 14 kt | 22 | 1009.1 | TS |
| 10:35 UTC | 77.2 | 73 | 140° 13 kt | 25 | 1009.1 | TS |
| 10:55 UTC | 77.2 | 73 | 130° 19 kt | 26 | 1008.1 | TS |
| 11:15 UTC | 68.7 | 66 | 1014.2 | +TSRA | ||
| 11:35 UTC | 66.6 | 66 | 190° 9 kt | 26 | 1011.2 | -TSRA |
| 11:55 UTC | 67 | 66.4 | 0° 0 kt | 1012.5 | TSRA | |
| 12:15 UTC | 67 | 66.6 | 0° 0 kt | 1012.5 | -TSRA | |
| 12:35 UTC | 67.5 | 67 | 150° 5 kt | 1012.5 | -TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:41 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:40 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 2 W Elizabeth | Allen, LA | A EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WEST OF ELIZABETH SNAPPING NUMEROUS SOFTWOOD TREES AND REMOVING SHINGLES OFF OF A HOME. |
| 10:03 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 Wnw Bond | Allen, LA | AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG DESHOTEL RD AND SNAPPED NUMEROUS SOFTWOOD TREES AND POWER POLES. |
| 10:40 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 2 Sse Mamou | Evangeline, LA | AN EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG GRADNEY LANE WHERE IT PULLED A MANUFACTURED HOME OFF OF ITS BLOCKS AND INTO THE ROAD. |
| 10:41 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sse Mamou | Evangeline, LA | PUBLIC PHOTO OF A SMALL RESIDENCE MOVED ONTO LANSE MEG RD. AT THE CORNER OF GRADNEY LN. SE OF MAMOU. STRUCTURE APPEARS TO HAVE SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE BUT WAS OVERALL STILL IN TACT. OCCUPANT WAS INSIDE RESIDENCE AT T |
| 10:41 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Se Mamou | Evangeline, LA | PUBLIC PHOTO OF A SMALL RESIDENCE MOVED ONTO LANSE MEG RD. SE OF MAMOU. STRUCTURE APPEARS TO HAVE SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE BUT IS OVERALL STILL IN TACT. OCCUPANT WAS INSIDE RESIDENCE AT THE TIME OF OCCURANCE BUT NO IN |
| 10:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Eunice | St. Landry, LA | REPORT OF LARGE TREE DOWN ON HWY 29 IN EUNICE. |
| 10:53 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Se Ville Platte | Evangeline, LA | SURVEY RESULTS FOUND THAT A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AROUND 5 ESE OF MAMOU AND TRAVELED 9.1 MILES TO THE ENE BEFORE LIFTING NEAR 5 ESE OF VILLE PLATTE. TORNADO CAUSED WIDESPREAD TREE DAMAGE AND RESIDENCE DAMAGE INCLUDING REM |
| 10:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ene Ville Platte | Evangeline, LA | OEP REPORTING GAS PUMPS DEMOLISHED AT THE GAS STATION LOCATED AT THE CORNER OF WHITEVILLE RD. AND TATE COVE RD. WITH NUMEROUS OTHER DAMAGE REPORTS AROUND THE CITY. TORNADO POSSIBLE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 11:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Church Point | Acadia, LA | REPORT OF POWER LINES DOWN AT HWY 35 AND POINTE NOIRE ROAD. |
| 11:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ssw Opelousas | St. Landry, LA | SPOTTER REPORT OF LARGE TREES DOWN ON HWY 182 NEAR THE BELLEVUE CEMETERY SOUTH OF OPELOUSAS. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 11:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Opelousas | St. Landry, LA | PUBLIC REPORTS LARGE TREES DOWN BLOCKING BOTH ENDS OF SUGAR MILL ROAD. |
| 11:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ene Crowley | Acadia, LA | EM REPORTS ROOF BLOWN OFF OF A HOUSE ALONG US 90 BETWEEN CROWLEY AND RAYNE. |
| 11:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Church Point | Acadia, LA | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTS TEE DOWN ON HOUSE ON HUCKABY STREET IN CHURCH POINT. |
| 12:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 62 | 2 Ese Lafayette | Lafayette, LA | ASOS STATION KLFT LAFAYETTE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in LouisianaEvery tornado in Louisiana since 1950Warnings in force in Louisiana nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 19, 2019
19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19 | 1:07 AM CDT | EF1 | Jasper, TX | 1.3 | 600 | 1 | $50,000 | |
| May 19 | 1:21 AM CDT | EF1 | Jasper, TX | 3.1 | 100 | $15,000 | ||
| May 19 | 2:02 AM CDT | EF0 | Natchitoches Parish, LA | 1.2 | 80 | |||
| May 19 | 2:46 AM CDT | EF1 | Richland Parish, LA | 18.7 | 700 | $100,000 | ||
| May 19 | 3:14 AM CDT | EF1 | Beauregard Parish, LA | 2.9 | 600 | $10,000 | ||
| May 19 | 3:19 AM CDT | EF1 | Beauregard Parish, LA | 2.6 | 800 | $75,000 | ||
| May 19 | 3:26 AM CDT | EF1 | Beauregard Parish, LA | 2.7 | 250 | $7,000 | ||
| May 19 | 4:40 AM CDT | EF1 | Allen Parish, LA | 2.3 | 50 | $7,000 | ||
| May 19 | 5:03 AM CDT | EF1 | Allen Parish, LA | 1.3 | 900 | $50,000 | ||
| May 19 | 5:47 AM CDT | EF1 | Evangeline Parish, LA | 9.1 | 400 | $150,000 | ||
| May 19 | 5:50 AM CDT | EF1 | Evangeline Parish, LA | 2.5 | 600 | $100,000 | ||
| May 19 | 8:30 AM CDT | EF0 | Saint Helena Parish, LA | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| May 19 | 6:25 PM EDT | EF0 | Barry, MI | 1.4 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| May 19 | 3:41 PM PDT | EF0 | Fresno, CA | 0.3 | 100 | |||
| May 19 | 8:03 PM EDT | EF1 | Lancaster, PA | 0.8 | 125 | $100,000 | ||
| May 19 | 8:39 PM EDT | EF1 | Preble, OH | 4.4 | 150 | $250,000 | ||
| May 19 | 8:50 PM EDT | EF1 | Preble, OH | 7.6 | 120 | $550,000 | ||
| May 19 | 9:22 PM EDT | EF1 | Montgomery, OH | 1.0 | 150 | $150,000 | ||
| May 19 | 9:51 PM EDT | EF1 | Bucks, PA | 0.3 | 100 |
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.