Severe weather struck parts of the area last night between 4pm-12am. Storms produced very heavy rainfall, frequent lightning, and gusty winds. The atmosphere contained high-levels of moisture, which caused storms to consolidate more into complexes. Although, many places saw strong winds and warnings, I believe this saved the area from seeing a more widespread severe weather event. Some storms did produce damage across the area, especially further northwest towards Sabine parish, where trees were knocked down on Highway 191.

Around 8:15pm, a thunderstorm, moving northeast along Highway 165, began to produce a rotation. Rotation was very broad at first, which didn't warrant a warning, but rotation became tighter and tighter with each frame. A Tornado warning was issued on the storm as the stronger rotation moved towards Oakdale. KALB soon broke into coverage to report on this warned storm. The rotation soon faded away a few minutes later, which caused the warning to be dropped. However, it appears there was a brief tornado that touched down near Oakdale. Local law enforcement reports possible tornado damage, which included trees down along Highway 165, a roof being blown off a Murphy gas station, and trees down on Maple street. A source at the National Weather Service tells me that a survey will be conducted over the next day or so to determine exactly what caused this damage, but radar trends at the time support a possible tornado.

This same cell moved northward towards southern Rapides parish over the next hour. The storm was not severe warned, but did produce heavy rain and frequent lightning. However, an atmospheric phenomenon occurred around 8-9pm across places like Rapides and Grant parishes. Strong winds began, sustaining around 40-45 mph out of the southeast, gusting as high as 60 mph. A report of a 59 mph wind gust was reported at the Alexandria airport around 8:53pm. These winds caused many power outages across the area. This could have happened due to a really strong outflow boundary from the thunderstorm to the south, or because of a rare phenomenon called a Wake low. Wake lows are mini-low pressure systems that usually happen on the back end of rain shields and can locally enhance wind speeds. Although the Alexandria airport did report a 2mb pressure drop, I can't conclusively say which one caused the very strong winds.

As of 8:45am, Cleco reports that 221 of its customers could be without power in Grant, 519 customers in Rapides, and 15 customers in Avoyelles. Restoration times vary depending on location. Many of these outage reports are bunched up in Rapides and Grant, which gives more evidence of some kind of local wind enhancement. You can go to http://outage.cleco.com to see estimated restoration times in your area.

Finally, this system produced many hail reports in places along I-10 in Acadiana, and some very heavy rainfall. Parts of Acadia parish received 6-9 inches of rainfall overnight, as storms trained over some of the same areas. We'll continue to update information as we get it in. Please send any damage reports or pictures to news@kalb.com.

~Meteorologist Trevor Sonnier