So just like the title states, this blog post will be about important dates in 2021 in relation to weather events here in Acadiana. This post will be updated as things happen so it is a WIP.
- January 6, 2021: An EF-1 Tornado destroyed mobile homes in the village of Parks in St. Martin Parish. No injuries or deaths were reported.
- February 15-17, 2021: Winter Storm brings Freezing Rain, Sleet, and even some light Snow to Acadiana. Highs for most stay under freezing the entire day. Another winter storm brings freezing rain to St. Landry and Evangeline parishes just days after the previous storm.
- February 16, 2021: Lows in the teens for most across Acadiana are the coldest temperatures in decades for the region. Lafayette hit a low of 16 on this day.
- March 23, 2021: An EF-1 Tornado with wind speeds of 100 mph moved through the town of Washington. Roofs were ripped off of several homes and several trees were snapped. Along with this, a cold front brought severe warnings across the region and upwards of 8 inches of rain in portions of Evangeline and Jeff Davis Parishes as well as almost 10 inches of rain in St. Mary Parish.
- April 10th, 2021: An EF3 Tornado with wind speeds of 140 mph moved through St. Landry Parish for almost 9 miles. The tornado which was up to 200 yards in width damaged 15 homes. 1 person died as a result of the tornado when it destroyed a mobile home. 7 other people were injured from this event. This marks the 2nd deadly EF3 tornado in Acadiana in the past year which is very uncommon for the region. There was also an EF1 tornado that moved through the town of Lebeau also in St. Landry Parish around 1:30 AM. Wind speeds were 110 mph and was on the ground for 3.7 miles. Some trees were damaged as well as a barn.
- May 17th, 2021 (And Entire Spring): Lafayette picked up over 6 inches of rain on May 17th. This short but intense rainfall led to widespread flooding across the city. On top of this multiple tornadoes occurred across the Acadiana region throughout the day. The Vermillion River crested a few days later at heights not seen since the 2016 Flooding Event. Wrapping up Spring, by June 1st, Lafayette recorded its wettest Spring on record with 30.83" inches of rain (this is about half of our yearly total rainfall).
- August 29th, 2021: Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Southeastern Louisiana. While Morgan City (our viewing area) saw tropical-storm-force winds and saw widespread power outages, communities just east saw total devastation. Power was knocked out in the entire New Orleans metro and will likely be off for many through the end of September. This storm will go down as one of the worst in Louisiana state history. The storm would go on to cause extreme flooding in the northeast and kill dozens of people in the process.
