Lightning stuck the bell tower of a church just east of downtown Fort Worth, damaging the tower and sending bricks tumbling to the street below.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS FWD wrote it up.
Lightning stuck the bell tower of a church just east of downtown Fort Worth, damaging the tower and sending bricks tumbling to the street below.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Fort Worth, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 16, 2:39 PM CST, 1 hour 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 339 PM CDT FRI SEP 16 2011 .DISCUSSION... THE WEATHER PATTERN WILL BECOME MORE UNSETTLED ACROSS NORTH TEXAS THROUGH NEXT WEEK WITH SEVERAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR RAIN. A WEAK FRONT WAS NEARLY STATIONARY JUST NORTH OF INTERSTATE 20 THIS AFTERNOON. MOISTURE WAS SLOWLY INCREASING SOUTH OF THIS BOUNDARY. THE COMBINATION OF LIFT FROM AN APPROACHING SHORT WAVE AND THE INCREASE IN MOISTURE WAS RESULTING IN SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. THE BEST RAIN CHANCES THROUGH THIS EVENING WILL BE ACROSS THE WEST AND NORTH WHERE LIFT WILL BE MAXIMIZED. MEASURABLE RAINFALL IS EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS AND A FEW SPOTS MAY EVEN SEE SOME BRIEF...HEAVY RAINFALL. SOME RAINFALL WILL EVEN BE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT. WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL REMAIN OVER NORTH TEXAS THROUGH SUNDAY. WEAK SHORT WAVES EMBEDDED IN THIS FLOW WILL BRING PERIODS OF LARGE SCALE ASCENT. THEREFORE...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE THROUGH SUNDAY. THE CONTINUED UPWARD VERTICAL MOTION WILL DESTABILIZE THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME A BIT MORE ORGANIZED SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTHWEST AND NORTH. AN UPPER TROUGH AXIS WILL TRANSLATE ACROSS THE REGION MONDAY AND RAIN CHANCES WILL TEMPORARILY END FROM WEST TO EAST. THE PASSAGE OF THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS WILL ALLOW A SURFACE FRONT TO APPROACH THE RED RIVER TUESDAY BUT THE FRONT SHOULD STALL UNTIL A STRONGER SYSTEM DEEPENS ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF THE COUNTRY WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THE PASSAGE OF THE FRONT WILL BRING ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO NORTH TEXAS. FOR NOW WE WILL KEEP POPS LOW DUE TO MOISTURE AND TIMING UNCERTAINTIES TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE WEEK WILL BE SEASONAL OVERALL WITH HIGHS MAINLY IN THE 8OS TO LOWER 90S AND LOWS GENERALLY IN THE MID 60S TO LOWER 70S. THE ONLY DEVIATION WILL BE SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES BEHIND THE COLD FRONT THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. 79 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TX 70 90 74 90 73 / 30 20 20 20 30 WACO, TX 72 92 74 91 72 / 20 20 20 20 20 PARIS, TX 61 86 68 89 69 / 30 20 20 30 30 DENTON, TX 71 90 73 91 72 / 30 20 30 20 30 MCKINNEY, TX 68 88 71 88 70 / 30 20 20 20 30 DALLAS, TX 71 89 74 91 74 / 30 20 20 20 30 TERRELL, TX 68 89 71 89 71 / 20 20 20 20 30 CORSICANA, TX 69 90 72 90 72 / 20 20 20 20 20 TEMPLE, TX 70 92 72 91 71 / 20 20 10 20 20 MINERAL WELLS, TX 68 90 70 92 70 / 40 20 30 20 30 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 84/79
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 157 PM CDT FRI SEP 16 2011 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-171215- MONTAGUE-COOKE-GRAYSON-FANNIN-LAMAR-YOUNG-JACK-WISE-DENTON-COLLIN- HUNT-DELTA-HOPKINS-STEPHENS-PALO PINTO-PARKER-TARRANT-DALLAS- ROCKWALL-KAUFMAN-VAN ZANDT-RAINS-EASTLAND-ERATH-HOOD-SOMERVELL- JOHNSON-ELLIS-HENDERSON-COMANCHE-MILLS-HAMILTON-BOSQUE-HILL-NAVARRO- FREESTONE-ANDERSON-LAMPASAS-CORYELL-BELL-MCLENNAN-FALLS-LIMESTONE- LEON-MILAM-ROBERTSON- 157 PM CDT FRI SEP 16 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THROUGH TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTH TEXAS...WITH ACTIVITY LINGERING PAST MIDNIGHT IN AREAS NORTH OF INTERSTATE 20. CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL BE THE MAIN HAZARD FROM THESE STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. LOW THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE ACROSS NORTH TEXAS THROUGH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
526 PM CDT FRI SEP 16 2011
TXZ117-162300-
PARKER TX-
526 PM CDT FRI SEP 16 2011
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR...
PARKER COUNTY
AT 526 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES WEST OF WEATHERFORD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT
35 MPH.
CITIES IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE ALEDO...ANNETTA...BRIAR...
COOL...HUDSON OAKS...RENO...SPRINGTOWN...WEATHERFORD...WILLOW PARK...
POOLVILLE AND MINERAL WELLS STATE PARK.
VERY HEAVY RAIN AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.
LAT...LON 3301 9805 3299 9755 3269 9754 3265 9756
3264 9806
TIME...MOT...LOC 2226Z 240DEG 30KT 3276 9788
42/MMThe Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 21 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:26 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the bell tower of the Allen Chapel AME Church on Elm Street, damaging the tower and causing the bricks to tumble onto 1st Street below. The street remained closed for at least 2 days. The church's roof was also damaged.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, September 2011
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 349598.