The National Weather Service has confirmed that the tornado that moved through Jackson Parish on January 2nd was an EF-2 with peak winds of 122 mph. The tornado traveled about 15 miles in the 23 minutes that it was on the ground, reaching a maximum width of 1928 yards. According to the National Weather Service’s (NWS) storm survey, three residents received minor injuries. No fatalities were reported.
Details from NWS Shreveport’s Report:
This tornado began just north of the Jackson/Winn parish line along US HWY 16 and traveled northeast across Firetower Section Road and LA HWY 147/Walker Road snapping numerous trees. On Walker Road, the tornado caused roof damage to a chicken house and some manufactured homes. the most significant damage on Walker Road occurred just north of its intersection with Whitman Road where a single-wide manufactured home, which was anchored into the soil, was flipped and rolled off its foundation destroying most of the roof and walls, but leaving the undercarriage attached.
The most significant damage along the entire track occurred as the tornado crossed LA HWY 811/Gladway Road near its intersection with Kelley Road. Here, a brick single-family home lost most of its roof. This caused the partial failure of the walls of the garage of the home, but most of the walls of the home remained standing and intact. This damage was rated as EF-2. A metal garage building on this property suffered a complete loss of its walls, but most of its roof and the metal frame poles remained standing.
About 150 yards to the northwest, another brick single-family home suffered an almost total loss of its roof covering. The damage in this area was rated as EF-2 based mainly on the roof loss to the two homes. On the north side of Gladway Road, a double-wide manufactured home suffered the loss of most of its roof, but the walls remained standing. An attached carport on another brick single-family residence was destroyed as the tornado continued north of Gladway Road and west of Kelley Road.
More tree damage was observed along Lucy-Leonard Road and LA HWY 155. Two brick single-family homes on LA-155 just west of Sugar Creek Road suffered some loss of shingles from the roof. The tornado began to weaken rapidly but caused more minor roof damage to a single-family home and snapped some large tree branches along Stonewall Road before finally lifting.