Tornadoes (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth: apartment, houses, live in)

[wade_word]

Every year is a different year, but no one is immune. They can form anywhere in the area when there is severe weather taking place. Just never let your guard down.

[Poltracker]

Had a little F zero run by my office during the storms today. Made lots of noise and rattled the building, also damaged roofs further down the street. No one hurt and the power lines did not even go down. That is what most tornadoes are like. Hard to tell them from high wind. For that matter, some straight-line winds can be worse.

[Canine*Castle]

According to the NCDC storm event website, Dallas County has had 82 tornadoes and Tarrant County has had 80 from 1950 to 2007. So in numbers, the counties pretty much run neck in neck. The Dallas area has had more severe ones which resulted in more deaths and injuries, Tarrant 3/126 ~ Dallas 13/355, either nothing to really sweat about in all those years.

Here is another map that is interesting regarding tornadoes of F3 intensity and higher:

[destin04]

Last week in E Texas you didn't have to worry about that tornado...instead it was the baseball size hailstones that were breaking out your windows. Gotta love the spring type weather. It did run across my mind that a tornado may be following the massive hail but all I could think about at that time was keeping clear of the flying glass!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

According to the NCDC storm event website, Dallas County has had 82 tornadoes and Tarrant County has had 80 from 1950 to 2007. So in numbers, the counties pretty much run neck in neck. The Dallas area has had more severe ones which resulted in more deaths and injuries, Tarrant 3/126 ~ Dallas 13/355, either nothing to really sweat about in all those years.

Here is another map that is interesting regarding tornadoes of F3 intensity and higher:

This was the map I had been searching for to post. Thanks CC!

That dark red area whose core is in Oklahoma and runs down into North Texas is what is commonly referred to as the "Heart of Tornado Alley" True, that many other states and areas are also so colored, but the distinguishing factor of the Southern and Central Plains is that the tornadoes which occur in this area tend to be longer lived and more violent than in other parts of the country.

[TXCowboy010]

In the months of March - May the DFW area will have several tornado watches. Maybe a few per year outside of that time frame. Of that, as far as warnings, I'd say most years see at least one or two warnings in the entire Metroplex area. Of that, maybe a few tornadoes each year - mostly EF0 - EF2. They tend to be isolated and statistically you are unlikely to ever be affected - the problem is that if you are affected it is big news and of course it can be serious. Overall I think there are much more urgent things to worry about than tornadoes.

Tornado probability and the likelihood of "strong" tornadoes increases as you go west of Ft. Worth (out toward the caprock) and north of Ft. Worth up toward Oklahoma and the Wichita Falls area. Generally, the threat decreases as you move south. Northeast Texas gets its fair share of tornadoes but they tend to be later in the evening as the storms that fire on the dry line converge into a squall and move east.

OK, too much information. Bottom line is don't worry about it. Buy good homeowner's insurance and move the vehicles into the garage is hail is coming- LOL!

[Rocket Power]

Well here in Southeast Texas you shouldn't take them too lightly, but at the same time, I wouldn't worry myself to death over them.

I've been in a few tornadoes before, and there has been a few people killed over the past few years, with the key words here being "few people."

[teatime]

Well, we've had an exciting time of it this afternoon. (Abilene area) Tornado warnings a-plenty. I think one touched down very briefly somewhere around Sweetwater but that's it for now, thank goodness! I've kept the TV on for all of the weather bulletins and they say it may be an interesting evening with more severe weather potential.

[JamesAbilene]

Yes, Teatime, the wind damage just north of Abilene in Tye may have been a small tornado. It grew to 1/2 mile wide and a combination of three separate tornadoes by the time it got to Breckenridge. The news says there is some damage and at least three people hospitalized in Breckenridge. It is 8:23, and my storm warning radio just went off again. I won't say we are always going to be safe, but they do tend to go just north of us, and I hope they always do. At the 3:45 warning, they moved all of us in my building at McMurry to the basement.

[williboy]

Sounds scary.