A Study of the 9 April 2009 Tornado Outbreak over the Shreveport, Louisiana County Warning Area (CWA)

Tornadoes are atmospheric phenomena that affect mostly the central United States. The National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Shreveport has dealt with tornado occurrences for northeast Texas, southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, and northwest Louisiana, and has kept records of tornadoes since the 1950's. The most recent outbreak to affect the Shreveport County Warning Area (CWA) was the 9 April 2009 Tornado Outbreak, which was declared the biggest outbreak in 2009 in the U.S. (to date). The event took place on 9-10 April 2009 with a total of 13 tornado occurrences affecting the four state-regions. A meteorological perspective is presented of where the outbreak originated, what contributing factors played an important role in its development and a discussion on the formation of the storms. There is an emphasis of two tornadoes, an anti-cyclonic tornado over Center Point, Arkansas and another in Caddo and Bossier Parishes in the Shreveport, Louisiana metropolitan area. A discussion of damages done by these tornadoes is presented, separated by state, with details on structure damage and injuries. The study was conducted to see in detail the behavior of an outbreak to use as future reference for tornadoes outbreaks for the Shreveport CWA. The meteorological overview of the event was done by studying the local climate characteristics of Shreveport CWA, tornadic parameters from a severe weather sounding analysis for 9 April 2009, at 7 p.m. and geographical location with respect to the Gulf of Mexico was also taken to consideration. Radar images of water vapor, velocity and satellite images were also observed to present a description of the event.