Tornados in Dallas (Fort Worth, Denton, Spring: mattress, house, tornado)

[momof2dfw]

Just an FYI for all of you folks that think Dallas is "Tornado Alley" and we have them ALL THE TIME. The LAST tornado to touch the ground in Dallas was in 1957! I heard this over the weekend and thought I would pass it on to relieve some of your fears. Hear is a story about it (check out wfaa.com and search for "tornado in dallas" and you will find more info).

1957: Dallas tornado
'It seemed like it lasted forever'

07/03/2002

By KIMBERLY DURNAN / Dallas Web Staff


The Dallas tornado of 1957 whipped the city with fury like none had before and none have since.


Around 3 p.m. on April 2, 1957, the tornado blew in from the southwest and cut a 16-mile path through the city, killing 10, racking up $4 million in damages and leaving hundreds without a home.


The twister started in the Hampton Road area, traveled to a seven-block area of Chalmers and Superior streets before it tore up sections of Oak Cliff, west and northwest Dallas and then disappeared over Bachman Lake.


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Sam Barricklow, now a storm chaser, recalled that he was 6 years old when he spotted the tornado from his Oak Cliff home.


“The tornado was passing about two miles west of our home,” Mr. Barricklow told The Dallas Morning News in 1998. “I could see debris above the house across the street. I could see the clouds swirling, and there were close strikes of lightning. It was unsettling.”


Dallas historian Ken Holmes said he was a child when the tornado bore down on Dallas.

“We were six blocks from Polk Street,” he said. “My mother started screaming, ‘It’s a tornado, it’s a tornado,’ and we got in the bathtub with a mattress over our heads. It seemed like it lasted forever.”


Parkland Hospital was untouched by the tornado, but saw 175 patients in two hours that day.

[Guingirl]

This is what I found for the one that hit Fort Worth in 2000. http://www.dallassky.com/fwtornado.htm

One of the things that I was looking at was the news from Northern California and why we all think that California is earthquake country, they had "tornado like winds" or a "minimal tornado" there yesterday. Every Spring we used to have one or two funnel cloud sightings with at least one touching down for a few seconds stirring something up.

[5stones]

people don't realize that tornados can happen anywhere!
Living near Pittsburg in PA we had them!

[TootsieWootsie]

One of the WORST tornados in history was in the Illinois/Indiana area years ago!

[socketz]

It seems that they form out west where it is really flat and break east towards Ft Worth. The strong winds we had the other day did the same. So essentially we should thank Forth Worth for being our buffer.

[shannon94]

There is actually alot of "activity" up north during the spring and summer "tornado season".

[socketz]

Where up north ?

[AZ_singlemother]

Dallas-area historical tornado activity is above Texas state average. It is 223% greater than the overall U.S. average.


On 4/25/1994, a category 4 (max. wind speeds 207-260 mph) tornado 12.0 miles away from the Dallas city center killed 3 people and injured 48 people and caused between $50,000,000 and $500,000,000 in damages.

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by socketz

Where up north ?

Denton county....Collin county.....etc

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by AZ_singlemother

Dallas-area historical tornado activity is above Texas state average. It is 223% greater than the overall U.S. average.


On 4/25/1994, a category 4 (max. wind speeds 207-260 mph) tornado 12.0 miles away from the Dallas city center killed 3 people and injured 48 people and caused between $50,000,000 and $500,000,000 in damages.

That one hit in Lancaster and Desoto. Desoto saw a tornado back in the 80's also.

As I've said a MILLION times, I've been here for over 40+ years and have yet to see a torndado or have been hit by one nor has anyone in my family or extended family or friends been hit by a tornado. It is such a rare thing really that it is not something to worry about. Several years ago before our weather folks and the people at the NWS got to where they could see where one formed any damage that was done was always thought to be a tornado. Now the damage is known to be done by high winds, straight line winds, etc and not tornados.