The EF3 Tornadoes of Alto, Texas, and Ruston, Louisiana, in April 2019: A Success Story in Situational Awareness and Critical Partner Decision Support

In mid to late April of 2019, an active pattern produced multiple rounds of severe weather in the Shreveport, Louisiana, National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO SHV) County Warning Area (CWA). A total of 12 tornadoes occurred during two distinct severe weather scenarios within a two week span. This talk will focus on the two most significant tornadoes (EF-3 strength): the April 13th tornado striking Alto, Texas (hereafter referred to as the “Alto Tornado”) and the tornado of April 25th impacting Ruston, Louisiana (and hereafter referred to as the “Ruston Tornado”).

The Alto Tornado occurred during a well-forecast and classic spring severe weather setup for the “ArkLaTex” region and was actually not the first tornado to strike Alto, Texas, that day; the stronger tornado’s path crossed the path of a weaker EF2 occurring several hours earlier. Conversely, forecast weather parameters preceding the Ruston Tornado did not appear favorable for significant severe weather. However, during that particular event, those parameters were enhanced locally as a supercell moved along a residual outflow boundary for several hours. These two EF3 tornadoes were obviously anticipated differently from a forecast perspective, but short-term situational awareness remained high in both cases and warning lead times and critical partner decision support were exemplary (even though both tornadoes involved intricate challenges in warning operations). Our presentation will delve into the details of how multiple, timely actions taken by WFO SHV before the Alto and Ruston Tornadoes saved lives (as supported by Emergency Management accounts), which includes the Warning Meteorologist taking deliberate actions in between the consecutive Alto Tornadoes. The talk will also discuss how each event was anticipated differently based on the varying weather parameters and outlooks and, additionally, the climatological uniqueness of having two EF-3 tornadoes strike in WFO SHV's CWA within a period of less than two weeks.