Storm Troopers

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Keller responds

In Keller, emergency calls were up dramatically as residents dealt with road closures, flooding, power outages, fires and downed trees and power lines.

Fire Chief Dan Gaumont said Bear Creek Parkway, between Cindy Court and Anita Avenue, was closed because of flooding as water continues to spill out of Big Bear Creek's banks.

He said there has been at least one house fire caused by a lightning strike and electricity is out in some areas. He said firefighters provided a man on oxygen with a portable generator after his electricity went out.

Gaumont said Keller has also assisted Colleyville with several calls.

Gaumont said things could get worse before they get better with another batch of storms predicted this afternoon.

"If there is water on the road, don't drive through it and if there are downed lines of any type, stay away from them," Gaumont warned.

-- Melody McDonald

Power back on in Summerfields

Coutnless fences and trees have been downed by last nights storms. After 12 hours, electric service has returned to the area.

-- Mer Poldrack News Designer Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Stoplights out

Stoplights were out at the busy intersection of Green Oaks Boulevard and I-20 in Arlington at 11:30 a.m.

-- Cathy Frisinger Indulge Managing Editor

182 flights cancelled this morning at DFW airport

As of 11 a.m. this morning,182 flights were cancelled at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Flight delays are running between one to two hours, said airport spokesman David Magana.

Earlier this morning, the ramps were closed as lightening storms passed over the airport. However, Magana said the airport expects flights to get back on track later this afternoon as the weather clears.

-Andrea Ahles

Trophy Club damage

Trophy Club was also hit hard by overnight storms.

Lisa Hennek, Trophy Club's public information officer, said city workers were out in force Thursday morning, removing storm debris and large, downed trees that were blocking streets and driveways. She said a town resident was also organizing a group of school kids to help with the clean-up.

Hennek said at least two houses under construction were damaged or destroyed and at least one other had caught fire. She said furniture and umbrellas at the community pool were also damaged.

Henneck said the Town is offering disposal sights for storm debris at Harmony Park, Independence Park and the Church at Trophy Lakes. The town will also be providing curb side collection Thursday and Friday for residents unable to dispose of the debris at centralized sites.

Melody McDonald

Star-Telegram

817-390-7386

mjmcdonald@star-telegram.com

North Fort Worth -- the morning after

Actually, let's start with the evening.

Storm hit me while I was driving home on North Beach Street. Started just south of Loop 820. Winds rocking my little Honda Civic. Horizontal rain.

Drove by a field with about five horses in it, running and evidently agitated at the weather coming in. I've lived here 20 years and been through the 1995 hailstorm and the 2000 tornado, but the clouds I saw at North Beach Street and Western Center Boulevard were the scariest-looking clouds I can remember seeing here. Low hanging, rotating, with eerie-looking wisps flowing out of them.

Rain got worse as I headed home, and wind was bending trees sideways. My girlfriend, who grew up in Galveston, said the winds reminded her of some hurricanes she lived through growing up. Somewhere after 7:30, there was a break and I did a grocery-store trip.

Tree limbs down all over the place in our neighborhood. Think I saw some shingles, too. Lots of cloud-to-ground lightning in the west, some of which seemed to come pretty close later in the night, but except for a brief power surge, we had power all night.

Thunderstorms throughout the night into the morning. On the way in, several traffic lights out at intersections on Beach Street - including the busy North Tarrant Parkway interesection. Not just flashing, but out.

Interesting how people in an area with more than its share of bad drivers start getting polite when something like that happens. Near Beach and Western Center, several trees - I'd guess about 20 to 30 years old - snapped at the base at an apartment complex. But the drive in Thursday was much easier and less frightening (or fascinating) than the drive home Wednesday.

-- Robert Philpot

Trees down, power out, in N. FW

Lots of good-size trees are down along Basswood Blvd. in the Park Glen/Summerfields area. I live NE of Basswood and Beach, and the power has been out in parts of the neighborhood since last night. Luckily, power is still up at the Wal-Mart, so I was able to buy milk this a.m.

-- Gordon.

Waxahachie area

Very large tree knocked down across the street from our house in the Red Oak-Waxahachie area; power was out for four hours last night.

-- Kathy Harris

High winds in Mansfield

Mansfield may have been on the edge of last night's storm lines, but there was at least one downed tree and some large downed branches in the area around the Walnut Creek Country Club. People got out this morning to clear debris from their roofs before the next wave comes through. -- John Gravois

Traffic light out on Eigth Avenue

The traffic signal at Eight Avenue and Magnolia in the hospital district was blinking red at about 8:45 a.m. Traffic was light, though, so the backup wasn't bad.

-- Mike Lee

Second wave passes through north Fort Worth

Strong winds, a burst of heavy rain, light hail and lightning lashed the area again about 11:15 p.m. Tree limbs and leaves littered front yards in the Summerfields area, some of the debris undoubtedly from the earlier storm that moved through around 7.

Power was out west of Riverside Drive around Fossil Creek, home to numerous restaurants, convenience stores and the Fossil Creek 11 theater complex. Eerie. The main storm system blew through in about 15 minutes, headed east, leaving lightning flashes, an occasional thunder burst and light rain in its wake.

Report rain or weather around your house on our interactive weather map.

-- Tom Uhler

Raw video: Storm view from Cowboys Stadium

Here's some video of the storm coming in, shot from Cowboys Stadium, looking toward Rangers Ballpark.

-- Anthony Andro

Raw video: Storm slams into Bedford

Here's some video of the storm slamming Bedford:

-- Jen Friedberg

Leading edge moves into Dallas

At the WFAA/Channel 8 offices in downtown Dallas' Victory Plaza, it's dark, windy and raining. Think the leading edge has now moved into downtown Dallas. A tornado warning remains in effect for Dallas County until 7:45 p.m.

Tornado warning/severe weather threat has ended in Tarrant and Denton counties, according to Channel 8 weatherman Pete Delkus. Here's his Twitter feed: @wfaaweather

All's now quiet in central Arlington

Just like Brad Barton said (he's my hero): About 30 minutes after it kicked up, winds and rain have suddenly died down in central Arlington.

-- Kathy Vetter

Video shows storm hitting Rangers Ballpark

This video is right as the rain was coming into Rangers Ballpark.

-Anthony Andro

'Tornado green' skies in Bedford

Starting at about 7 PM in Bedford, sheets of rain and wind blowing horizontally across the yard, knocked over watering cans and plastic lawn chairs and shooting them off of a deck into the yard.

Loud cracks of thunder and bursts of lightening cut the sky, which could only be called "tornado green."

-- Jen Friedberg

Severe weather moving fast, KRLD says

Brad Barton on KRLD says this thing will move fast, like 30 to 45 minutes of bad weather in each area and then hauling east. Still might rain behind it, he says, but the severe stuff will be fast.

Weather delay at Rangers Ballpark

They are in a weather delay at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, at least until 8 p.m. or so.

'Severe storm complex now pushing I-35 corridor'

Here's the latest National Weather Service "discussion notes," as of 6:45:

UPDATE... SEVERE STORM COMPLEX NOW PUSHING I-35 CORRIDOR...WITH LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS TO 70 MPH...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IN EXCESS OF 2 INCHES IS POSSIBLE...YET ANY FLASH FLOODING SHOULD WOULD BE ISOLATED AND CURRENT FORWARD STORM MOTION WOULD INDICATE SUCH. DEFINITELY SOME URBAN/SMALL STREAM FLOODING IS EXPECTED ACROSS URBAN AREAS WITH ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE/PWAT NEAR 2 INCHES. WE HAVE REMOVED JACK...YOUNG...STEPHENS COUNTIES...BUT ADDED COUNTIES TO THE WATCH SOUTH THROUGH MILLS...MCLENNAN...OVER TO ANDERSON COUNTIES.

It's whacking Arlington now

OK, now the winds are crazy in Arlington. It's pouring and the winds are howling. Hope my trees make it.

KRLD says the leading edge of the storm is now in Arlington.

Still have power though, although that might not be for long. And now I'm hearing hail again.

-- Kathy Vetter

Wind gusts hitting 80 mph, weather service says

7:05 p.m. update: The cities of North Richland Hills and Fort Worth sounded their sirens about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to authorities.

The Fort Worth Emergency Management Office set off sirens in the North and Western quadrant of the city due to reports of some rotation in the skies.

Fort Worth officials are evaluating whether or not to sound the sirens for the Northeastern portion of the city.

They were sounding the sirens as a precaution due to the sighting and warnings from the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning through 7:45 p.m. for Northern Tarrant, Northeastern Parker, Southeastern Denton and Southeastern Wise counties.

A line of severe thunderstorms is moving through the area right now about 40 mph, said Jason Dunn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Winds are gusting about 80 mph.

An unconfirmed tornado has been sighted near Trophy Club, Dunn said.

— Mitch Mitchell

Rain has started in Arlington

It's 7:05 p.m.: The rain has started in Arlington, and I'm hearing some hail. And I just got a new roof!

Patio furniture is blowing around, and the satellite TV is out. But nothing severe here yet, except for some scary lightning.

-- Kathy Vetter

Tornado sirens sound in Fort Worth, NRH

The cities of North Richland Hills and Fort Worth sounded their sirens about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to authorities.

The Fort Worth Emergency Management Office set off sirens in the North and Western quadrant of the city due to reports of some rotation in the skies.

Fort Worth officials are evaluating whether or not to sound the sirens for the Northeastern portion of the city.

They were sounding the sirens as a precaution due to the sighting and warnings from the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning through 6:45 p.m. for Northern Tarrant, Northeastern Parker, Southeastern Denton and Southeastern Wise counties.

— Mitch Mitchell

Dark and scary in Arlington

Wow, it's dark and windy in Arlington.

I headed out for a quick bike ride about 6:40 and made it less than 15 minutes before the wind kicked up in a major way, with cold spots blasting up here and there, and it got completely dark. It's lightning and thundering here now, at 7 p.m., but no rain yet.

-- Kathy Vetter

Layer of warm air deflects storm, kills it

Well that was interesting.

A severe storm that had a history of large hail and damaging winds bore down on Tarrant County late Tuesday, which made things awfully exciting at the National Weather Service office in north Fort Worth.

But after it passed Eagle Mountain Lake and headed for Fort Worth, the storm hit snag.

Jesse Moore, a meteorologist who was manning the office, said the storm came up against a "cap" of warm air, which made it weaken and die.

Read more here.

-- Bill Miller

Bad storm spotted in southern Wise County; see it move on radar

A severe thunderstorm has been spotted in southwestern Wise County, and a storm warning was issued for portions of Jack, Parker, and Tarrant counties through 11:30 p.m.

At 10:35 p.m., weather service radar spotted a severe thunderstorm capable of producing quarter-size hail and damaging winds in excess of 60 mph.

The storm was spotted three miles west of Boonsville in southwestern Wise County and moving at about 30 mph, according to the weather service.

Click here to track it on radar.

-- Bill Miller

Heavy rains hit parts of North Texas Thursday morning

The morning slumber of residents in northern Tarrant and Denton counties was rudely interrupted this morning by the clap of loud thunder and the sound of heavy rain beating down on the rooftops as a strong line of thunderstorms moved through the area.

The rain moved into the Tarrant/Denton county area about 6 a.m. with a roar. At 6:15 a.m., the rain was falling from central Tarrant County to the northeast into Collin County and beyond.

The system is moving east and forecasters say it should move through quickly, turning into a mostly cloudy day the remainder of Thursday.

-- Lance Murray

Rain, dark skies in central Arlington

It's raining in central Arlington (about 9:25 a.m.), but not too hard. A little thunder now and then.

Sure looks dark, though.

-- Kathy Vetter, Arlington

Small grass fire in Rockwood Park

A small grass fire was burning in Rockwood Park northwest of downtown Fort Worth, across the Trinity River from the Crestwood neighborhood.

Crews were on the scene and it was mostly extinguished by about 8 p.m.

Apartment fire at River Ridge

Elizabeth Zavala

Sent from my iPhone

Salvation Army on the way

The Salvation Army has dispatched a mobile disaster vehicle to Decatur to provide food and drink to firefighters who are trying to contain wildfires in Wise County. The vehicle will head to the Sheriff's Posse Grounds at 3101 S. FM 51 in Decatur where it will be sent to the appropriate location to best serve the firefighters.

Light ash falling

At 5:30 p.m., light ash was falling in south Arlington at Arbrook Boulevard and Cooper Street.

Drought watch: Scattered thunderstorms good; widespread soakers better

Weather service meteorologists say it's far too early to declare that North Texas is climbing out of drought, but we think there are a couple of small developments worth noting.

For context, however, let's look at the latest drought data from the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

Since January 2008, North Texas has racked up a rain deficit of  7.86 inches below normal, said Jennifer Dunn, a weather service meteorologist.

But, she noted, for 2009 so far, "we're only .23 inches below normal."

"So," she added, "short term, we're not doing as bad right now. That's only a quarter inch below normal, and we're seeing some green up in the area."

The vegetation indicates there's moisture in the soil, which is good because that helps cool the air near the surface during the hot summer months. Without that, the days can be awfully sweltering.

The latest data includes the half inch of rain recorded Monday night during some pretty powerful thunderstorms that also dumped damaging hail in northern Tarrant County.

More thunderstorms are possible after midnight, although the latest projections Wednesday afternoon indicated that areas east of Interstate 35W have the best chances for precipitation.

"So Fort Worth very well could be left out," Dunn said.

Don't lose heart. There could be another round of thunderstorms Saturday night.

The recent rainfall might give you hope that the drought is on its way out, but forecasters insist there's no scientific correlation to that.

"These are typical springtime patterns," said Jessica Schultz, another weather service meteorologist in Fort Worth. "The atmosphere is in a very progressive pattern with storm systems coming in every three days or so.

"But by no means are they widespread. They're generally scattered in nature, so not everyone sees rain."

And, Dunn reminded, "To erase drought long-term, we need several rounds of soaking rains."

Click here for a weather service Web site that you can bookmark to keep track of the forecast.

-- Bill Miller

Hail smacks into north Fort Worth

Star-Telegram Metro Editor Lee Williams took these cellphone photos of the hail that fell on his yard late last night. No report of damages yet.

All quiet -- for now

It's nearly midnight and the rain has subsided in Fort Worth.

The largest band has moved off toward Dallas, but National Weather Service radarshowed it stretching from Cleburne in Johnson County northeast across Dallas County and on into Collin County.

Alex Branch reported that baseball size hail fell upon Keller. Be watching Star-Telegram.com tomorrow for follow-up reports on storm damage and any other overnight developments.

-- Bill Miller

Radar image shows storm's track

This radar image from the National Weather Service shows the storm's track.

Meanwhile, Alex Branch reports hail the size of golf balls and tennis balls has fallen in North Fort Worth.

-- Bill Miller

Thunderstorm has reached southwest Fort Worth

It's 10:54 p.m. and a burst of heavy rain has just rolled through southwest Fort Worth. We could see it approaching from the southwest, with lightning flickering in the upper clouds.

-- Bill Miller

Rough weather should be mostly over by the end of rush hour commute

The Fort Worth Office of Emergency Management received two reports of pea size hail from the Keller and Saginaw areas between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. There were some reports of sirens being sounded in eastern Fort Worth, but emergency management officials have activated no sirens, said Calvin Brown, emergency management officer. The office has seen some lightning strikes which is a cause of siren malfunction. However, there have been no reports of any malfunctioning sirens, Brown said.

The area is looking at some light to moderate rain for the rush hour drive home, said Nick Hampshire, a meteorologist with the Fort Worth office of the National Weather Service. Commuters should expect some light to moderate rain that should start to dissipate between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., Hampshire said. A 40 percent to 50 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms is still in the forecast for Thursday. There is a slight chance that some of those thunderstorms could be severe, Hampshire said. A cold front that stalled out south of Tarrant County is trying to move north. The cold front is not expected to reach the Metroplex, but it continues to make our weather unstable, Hampshire said. — Mitch Mitchell

Drought took a punch, but it's still standing

Three days of rain have punched the 18-month-old drought in the mouth, but it's still standing.

Consider this data crunched this morning by Steve Fano, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The drought, which began late 2007, had left North Texas with a rain deficit of 7.63 inches at the end of 2008.

"Then in January, we were another 1.08 inches in the hole," Fano said.

There was some rain in February, but not enough to erase the drought. By March 10, another 2.81 was added to the shortfall for a total deficit of 11.44 inches.

That started to change, of course, with heavy showers and thunderstorms which began Wednesday, but they are expected to taper off later today.

"We picked up 1.2 inches yesterday," Fano said. "It's very likely we'll be over 4 inches before this whole event is over.

"If it didn't rain in March we would've been 14 inches in the hole."

But even with a possible 4 inches this week, that still leaves a 10-inch deficit, Fano said.

You may wonder if this week's rains signal an end to the drought, but there's no scientific correlation to that, Fano said.

"But keep your fingers crossed," Fano said. "We're at least chipping away at our deficit. This is a start."

-- Bill Miller

Some times weather sensor gets confused

What? Snow at Meacham Airport?

Not!

But that's what you read Thursday morning if you were logged onto some Websites maintained by the National Weather Service.

Turns out, however, that even though it was cold and wet, there was no snow -- even though a weather service sensor at the airport said so.

The device is part of the Automated Surface Observing System, or ASOS, which has replaced human weather observers at airports around the nation. (The ASOS shown in the NWS photo, right, is in Salinas, California.)

Aviation officials started installing the systems during the mid 1990s, but they were met with criticism from some air-traffic controllers who complained that they were misreading actual weather conditions, according to archived news reports.

Apparently one glitch lingers.

"Some times it gets confused," said Steve Fano, a weather service meteorologist.. "Any time precipitation is really light and temperatures are below 38 degrees, the sensor doesn't know if it's rain or snow.

"So it calls it snow."

The weather at 9:30 a.m. was 37 degrees with light drizzle over some areas.

Fano reminded that snow can occur when it's 40 degrees, but it has to be really cold aloft, and that wasn't the case on Thursday.

"It's not really snowing," he said.

-- Bill Miller

Red Flag warning today, so don't toss your cig butts

We were taught as children that we should never be careless with fire, but a day like today ought to drive that point home.

A Red Flag warning will be in effect from 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. along and west of Interstate 35, according to the National Weather Service.

It's so dry out there -- relative humidity is below 30 percent -- and winds are expected to be 15-25 mph with gusts possibly reaching 30 mph.

So any careless spark can ignite a wild fire.

Avoid all outdoor burning and welding.

And, the weather service urges, "Do not toss lit cigarette butts outside."

-- Bill Miller

Oklahoma has had 44 February tornadoes since 1950

 February tornadoes are unusual, even in tornado-prone Oklahoma, but they are not unprecedented.
At least three tornadoes touched down in the state on Tuesday, including one blamed for eight deaths and dozens of injuries.
National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Speheger in Norman said Oklahoma has had 44 February tornadoes since 1950.
The most recent February twister before Tuesday’s spurt occurred Feb. 24, 2000, in Ellis and Harper counties in western Oklahoma, damaging a hog barn and downing power lines, according to weather service records.
“In mid- to late March and going through May and mid-June is kind of when we usually have our severe weather season, when we typically see severe weather,” Speheger said early Wednesday.
“February tornadoes aren’t terribly uncommon in the southeastern United States, but here in Oklahoma, it’s pretty unusual for it to be this early in the year and for them to be this strong.”
Last February tornadoes killed more than 50 people in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.
That outbreak was farther north than most February tornadoes and stronger, Joseph Schaefer, director of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said at the time. February tornadoes usually pop up near the Gulf Coast, meteorologists said.

The Associated Press

Assessment from Colleyville: neighborhood clobbered by tornado

It's official.

A tornado with 90 mph winds is what clobbered a Colleyville neighborhood Tuesday night (right), the National Weather Service said.

A team from the weather service inspected the damage, including roofs shorn from homes, and determined Wednesday morning that a tornado was the culprit, said Jennifer Dunn, a meteorologist with the agency.

The twister was rated an "EF 1," which is on the lower end of the Enhanced Fujita Scale -- the system that the weather service uses to rate the strength of tornadoes.

But the tornado's severity should not be downplayed based on its EF rating, Dunn said.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that it's a little tornado," she said. "It's still significant, especially to the families whose homes and roofs were damaged by it."

Read more here.

-- Bill Miller

After the storms: what was and what could be next

Wednesday will be the opposite of Tuesday night when severe weather swatted Texas and Oklahoma.

North Texans awoke to sunny skies and strong wind, which conspired to erase any moisture left over from rainfall overnight.

The dry air will also give way to high temperatures around 70 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, a wind advisory issued Tuesday by the weather service will continue to around noon Wednesday.

Southwest winds could roll at speeds of 25 to 30 mph and gusts could get as high as 40 mph. They’ll ease off later Wednesday to about 10-15 mph, said Jessica Schultz, weather service meteorologist.

By comparison, the heavy winds during Tuesday’s storms were clocked at about 60-70 mph across North Texas, Schultz said.

But the winds reached 80 mph farther south in Hamilton County, Schultz said.

As for rain totals, Schultz said Wednesday morning that, during the past 24-hour period, Denton recorded 1.12 inches, DFW Airport and Love Field both had .39 inches, Waco had .45 inches and .43 inches was recorded at Alliance Airport.

That puts the area’s average rainfall at 1.54 so far for 2009, which is a little more than an inch below the normal rainfall of 2.65 inches, Schultz said.

There is a slight chance for showers on Friday, Schultz said.

“But,” she added, “a more substantial chance will be Monday when we’ll have an upper level disturbance moving across and interacting with a return of gulf moisture.”

Schultz noted that the showers will be “nothing like we had yesterday.”

“They will be more like your garden variety of thunderstorms,” she said.

-- Bill Miller

Low clouds Tuesday afternoon spared North Texas from worse weather

The severe weather Tuesday night in North Texas could have been worse -- in other words, it wasn't as bad as what was expected by National Weather Service meteorologists.

The worst damage in the area seemed to be in a Colleyville neighborhood, where houses lost their roofs.

D/FW Airport reported max wind gusts of 53 miles per hour, said Jessica Schultz of the weather service.

But on Wednesday morning she explained why more severe damage was avoided.

"Low clouds hung around longer yesterday morning and early afternoon than we expected," Schultz said. "That inhibited some sunlight."

That, in turn, restricted afternoon heating, which could have "destabilized the atmosphere even more," Schultz said.

"It could have been worse if those clouds had broken up and allowed more sunlight," she said. The result could have been "more isolated super cells that could’ve had the potential to produce tornadoes."

Like in Oklahoma.

-- Bill Miller

Second wave seems to have pushed to the north

That second wave of storms that was developing east of Abilene seems to have pushed northeast toward the Red River.

Maybe we won't see any of that. Meanwhile the squall line is entering East Texas. But it also stretches into South Texas. It will be interesting to see if anyone got any beneficial rain out this.

-- Bill Miller