Tornadoes · United States · Louisiana

Tornadoes in Concordia Parish, Louisiana

39 tornadoes have crossed Concordia Parish since 1950, 1 of them surveyed so far this year and still preliminary, 34th of the 64 counties in Louisiana with a tornado on record, an average of one every 1.9 years. They have killed 0 people and injured 40. None was rated F4 or above. Before 1950, Grazulis's record of significant tornadoes has 11 more crossing the county, back to 1801.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The United States rated tornadoes on Ted Fujita’s F scale until 31 January 2007 and on the Enhanced Fujita scale after it. Both run from 0 to 5, and both rate the damage rather than measure the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F0 / EF040 to 72 mph on the F scale, 65 to 85 mph on the EF scale

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

  2. F1 / EF173 to 112 mph on the F scale, 86 to 110 mph on the EF scale

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

  3. F2 / EF2113 to 157 mph on the F scale, 111 to 135 mph on the EF scale

    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. F3 / EF3158 to 206 mph on the F scale, 136 to 165 mph on the EF scale

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

  5. F4 / EF4207 to 260 mph on the F scale, 166 to 200 mph on the EF scale

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

  6. F5 / EF5261 to 318 mph on the F scale, over 200 mph on the EF scale

    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.

Now

Tornadoes
39
Deaths
0
Injuries
40
F4 and above
0
Worst on record
F3, September 24, 2005

The strongest

  1. F3, Catahoula and Concordia parishes, LouisianaDecember 29, 1969F3, 29.1 mi (47 km)
  2. F3, Concordia and Tensas parishes, LouisianaSeptember 24, 2005F3, 14.0 mi (23 km)
  3. F3, Concordia Parish, LouisianaNovember 21, 1992F3, 3.0 mi (5 km)
  4. F3, Concordia Parish, LouisianaSeptember 12, 1982F3, 2.0 mi (3 km)
  5. EF2, Concordia Parish, LouisianaFebruary 24, 2007EF2, 10.0 mi (16 km)
  6. F2, Concordia Parish, LouisianaOctober 28, 1974F2, 8.4 mi (14 km)
  7. F2, Catahoula and Concordia parishes, LouisianaMay 10, 2006F2, 8.0 mi (13 km)
  8. EF2, Catahoula and Concordia parishes, LouisianaFebruary 24, 2007EF2, 7.3 mi (12 km)
  9. F2, Concordia Parish, LouisianaJune 3, 1981F2, 0.5 mi (1 km)

Every year with a tornado

The 29 years of the 76 in the record with a tornado in Concordia Parish. Each year links to every tornado in Louisiana that year.

YearTornadoesDeathsInjuriesStrongest
20261EF0
20241EF1
20231EF1
20211EF0
20201EF1
201821EF1
20131EF1
20081EF1
20072EF2
200631F2
200543F3
20031F0
19991F0
199525F1
199412F1
199236F3
19911F1
19901F1
198711F1
19831F1
19821F3
19811F2
197911F1
19761F1
1974116F2
19731F0
196912F3
19541F1
195012F1

Every tornado that crossed Concordia Parish

39 tornadoes, newest first. The 1 at the top is this year's, from the surveying office rather than SPC's published database, and its rating is marked as preliminary.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 6, 20264:03 PM CDTEF0Concordia Parish1.250
December 28, 20245:12 PM CSTEF1Concordia Parish0.480$10,000
November 20, 20237:35 PM CSTEF1Avoyelles Parish6.7300$40,000
October 27, 20212:47 PM CDTEF0Pointe Coupee Parish10.525$5,000
April 22, 202010:17 PM CDTEF1Concordia Parish4.0880$33,000
November 1, 20181:30 AM CDTEF1Concordia Parish1.1150$40,000
November 1, 20181:24 AM CDTEF1Catahoula Parish10.19001$310,000
February 21, 20135:12 PM CSTEF1Concordia Parish3.075$75,000
September 3, 20084:37 AM CDTEF1Concordia Parish1.850$7,000
February 24, 20077:24 PM CSTEF2Concordia Parish10.0500$300,000
February 24, 20077:13 PM CSTEF2Catahoula Parish7.3400$800,000
May 10, 20065:03 PM CDTF0Adams to MS5.050
May 10, 20064:27 PM CDTF2Catahoula Parish8.0250$250,000
January 13, 20064:20 AM CSTF1Concordia Parish2.01001$450,000
September 24, 200512:44 AM CDTF3Concordia Parish14.01003$1.1 million
September 24, 200512:42 AM CDTF0Concordia Parish1.075
September 24, 20057:56 PM CDTF0Concordia Parish2.075$70,000
March 26, 20055:34 PM CSTF0Concordia Parish1.075$10,000
March 18, 20035:55 PM CSTF0Concordia Parish1.5100$10,000
January 22, 19991:15 PM CSTF0Concordia Parish1.050
April 22, 19956:54 PM CDTF0Concordia Parish0.130
March 7, 19958:30 AM CSTF1Concordia Parish1.0305$50,000 to $500,000
April 30, 199412:15 PM CDTF1Concordia Parish0.31,7602$5,000 to $50,000
December 15, 199210:30 AM CSTF1Concordia Parish0.123$5,000 to $50,000
November 21, 19929:45 PM CSTF3Concordia Parish3.01006$50,000 to $500,000
March 5, 19921:35 AM CSTF1Concordia Parish10.050$50,000 to $500,000
May 29, 19915:15 PM CDTF1Concordia Parish1.023$50,000 to $500,000
September 9, 19905:40 PM CDTF1Concordia Parish0.330$50 to $500
November 16, 19871:00 PM CSTF1Concordia Parish2.5731$50,000 to $500,000
December 5, 19836:00 PM CSTF1Concordia Parish2.033$50,000 to $500,000
September 12, 19821:45 AM CDTF3Concordia Parish2.0133$50,000 to $500,000
June 3, 19811:05 PM CDTF2Concordia Parish0.530$500 to $5,000
June 30, 197910:00 AM CDTF1Concordia Parish9.82001$5,000 to $50,000
January 25, 197612:03 PM CSTF1Concordia Parish0.110$5,000 to $50,000
October 28, 197411:00 PM CSTF2Concordia Parish8.42716$5,000 to $50,000
November 20, 19733:00 PM CSTF0Concordia Parish1.5100$500 to $5,000
December 29, 19692:15 PM GMT-6F3Catahoula Parish29.11832$50,000 to $500,000
April 28, 19547:10 AM GMT-5F1Concordia Parish0.550$5,000 to $50,000
May 1, 195012:30 PM GMT-5F1Concordia Parish1.01002$5,000 to $50,000

Concordia Parish before 1950

Before 1950 the record is Thomas P. Grazulis’s list of significant tornadoes: those rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. 11 of them crossed Concordia Parish, killing 422. They are not in the figures above, which are SPC's from 1950.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 6, 19408:45 PM CSTF2Mayna, LA4.1400
April 6, 193912:15 AM CSTF2Shaw/Deer Park, LA2.210050
March 29, 19383:30 AM CSTF3Turtle Lake to SW Ferriday, LA2.77549
April 6, 19359:30 PM CSTF2Farriday, LA200
March 25, 19169:30 AM CSTF2Lee Bayou/Clayton, LA4.0100110
April 24, 19085:00 AM CSTF4N Lamourie, LA to Natchez, MS to Tillman, MS122.670091400
April 18, 18944:00 PM CSTF2Summersville, MO5.412315
October 29, 18833:00 AM CSTF2SW Kirks Ferry/Waterproof, LA10.63005
April 22, 18839:40 AM CSTF3Deer Park, LA/Natches/Red Lick/Tillman Station, MS79.4200430
May 7, 18401:45 PM CSTF4Great Natchez tornado32.91,000317109
March 14, 18014:30 PM CSTUnratedCantonment Wilkinson, MS3.1235

About the record before 1950

Significant tornadoes only
Grazulis listed tornadoes rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. Most tornadoes are weaker than F2, so the list holds a fraction of the tornadoes that happened.
The early years are thin
A tornado is on record only where somebody saw it and wrote it down. The count rises through the 1800s with settlement and newspapers, not with the weather.
Rated from accounts
Grazulis rated each tornado decades later from newspaper reports, Weather Bureau records and local histories, not from a damage survey.
The tracks are reconstructed
Tornado Archive drew each path through the places Grazulis names, most often as a straight line from the first to the last. A track can miss a town it hit, and a tornado with one named place is a point. The counties are today’s.
A separate record
SPC’s database, from 1950, counts every confirmed tornado of any strength. The two are kept apart on every page and never added together.

Nearby

Warnings in force in Concordia ParishThe forecast for Concordia ParishThe live radar over Concordia ParishEvery county in Louisiana

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. Before 1950: Thomas P. Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 and Significant Tornadoes 1880-1989, as digitized by Tornado Archive (Maas and others, 2024). Public domain. Counties assigned by this site from today’s NWS county lines.