60
Recorded events
2
Direct deaths
15
Direct injuries
$9.0M
Property damage
Tornado in Webster Parish, Louisiana: 60 recorded events between 1950 and 2024. The strongest on record measured F4. That places the county #248 nationally and #16 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Webster Parish, Louisiana: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Webster Parish is the 2000s, when 11 of the county's 60 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Webster Parish archive, tornado makes up 8.4% of all recorded severe weather across 9 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #248 for this hazard and #16 within Louisiana, putting it in the 91.6 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Apr is the peak month for tornado in Webster Parish with 16 recorded events, while Aug is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-02-12 | EF4 | 82.6 mi | 100 yd | Crossed in |
| 1978-12-03 | EF3 | 60.0 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 1982-04-25 | EF3 | 23.0 mi | 500 yd | Touched down here |
| 1978-12-03 | EF3 | 61.1 mi | 10 yd | Crossed in |
| 1952-03-10 | EF3 | 50.9 mi | 650 yd | Crossed in |
| 1950-02-12 | EF2 | 58.4 mi | 100 yd | Crossed in |
| 2020-01-11 | EF2 | 31.8 mi | 300 yd | Crossed in |
| 2017-01-21 | EF2 | 10.8 mi | 990 yd | Crossed in |
| 2000-04-23 | EF2 | 37.2 mi | 700 yd | Crossed in |
| 1999-01-01 | EF2 | 7.9 mi | 50 yd | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 3, 1978 | F3 | 2 | 3 | $250K | |
| Jun 28, 1986 | F2 | 0 | 5 | $250K | |
| Jun 28, 1986 | F1 | 0 | 2 | $250K | |
| May 7, 1973 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $25K | |
| Apr 26, 1982 | F3 | 0 | 1 | $250K | |
| Apr 21, 1959 | F1 | 0 | 1 | $250K | |
| Nov 14, 1958 | F2 | 0 | 1 | $25K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 8, 2024 | SHONGALOO | EF1 | $35K |
| Jul 8, 2024 | SHONGALOO | EF1 | $10K |
| Jul 8, 2024 | LETON | EF1 | $0 |
| Jul 8, 2024 | HOLLY SPGS | EF1 | $0 |
| Jul 8, 2024 | HARRIS | EF1 | $50K |
| May 11, 2023 | DORCHEAT | EF1 | $20K |
| May 28, 2021 | MINDEN WEBSTER FLD | EF1 | $1.0M |
| Apr 12, 2020 | LAKE BISTINEAU NORTH | EF1 | $100K |
| Jan 11, 2020 | DOYLINE | EF2 | $750K |
| Dec 16, 2019 | HORTMAN | EF1 | $500K |
Other hazards here
More from Webster Parish
- Thunderstorm Wind 326
- Hail 251
- Flash Flood 58
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 95 mph touched down just southwest of the Minden airport along Methodist Camp Road and tore through Downtown Minden over the course of its 2.5+ mile track. The tornado tracked southeast through the heart of Minden, crossing Main Street/Highway 79 in the Downtown area. Nearly all of the damage was limited to trees being uprooted or having large limbs and the tops of trunks broken with some scattered structural damage in the town due to tree debris falling on these structures. The tornado weakened and lifted as it crossed Fincher Road on the eastern side of the Minden city limits.
This was a continuation of the tornado that first formed 4 miles SW of Fryeburg…and then crossed into extreme southern Webster Parish. This storm destroyed two mobile homes and damaged four other homes along with uprooting or snapping several trees along its path. Several power poles were alsodowned.
A tornado touched down 1 mile southwest of Cotton Valley in Webster Parish, LA., and moved northeast past Shangaloo. Trees were uprooted while several homes were lifted off their foundations. A travel trailer was blown into a neighbouring field about one hundred yards distance. The Shangaloo high school suffered moderate damage as part of its roof and frame was torn apart. The principal was in the school and said the tornado sounded like a jet airplane before takeoff. The tornado exited the county and the state of Louisiana 7 miles northeast of Shangaloo moving into Columbia County, Arkansas where it continued to 1 mile east of Emerson before dissipating.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Webster Parish, Louisiana?
60 tornado events are recorded in Webster Parish between 1950 and 2024, causing 2 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Webster Parish?
The strongest tornado on record in Webster Parish measured F4.
Where does the tornado data for Webster Parish come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Webster Parish, Louisiana.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/louisiana/webster-parish/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.