COMET Case Study 027: Southern Louisiana Tornados 1999 Data at UCAR/JOSS/NOAA/CODIAC

On 1-2 January 1999, southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana experienced a major tornado outbreak which featured 1 F3, 5 F2's, and 8 F0-F1's. While southern Louisiana's annual average for tornados is 13 (1950-1995), it hosted 12 tornados on 1-2 January. All of the tornados were indicated by WSR-88D radars in Lake Charles and Fort Polk, Louisiana. The average lead time was an impressive 24 minutes. There was one fatality in Texas, but, given the severity of the outbreak and the fact that it happened overnight, it is fortunate that there were not more people injured or killed. For more information, see: http://data.eol.ucar.edu/codiac/projs?COMET_CASE_027