A cold front ignited scattered to numerous thunderstorms across the region on Wednesday, May 29. Many of these were severe and a few produced damaging tornadoes.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
A cold front ignited scattered to numerous thunderstorms across the region on Wednesday, May 29. Many of these were severe and a few produced damaging tornadoes.
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 May 29, 6:14 AM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 714 AM CDT Wed May 29 2019 .AVIATION... /12 UTC TAF Cycle. Concerns---Ceiling trends and convective chances today. Widespread VFR and patchy MVFR cigs currently reside across most North and Central Texas terminals. A brief period of VFR will overspread Metroplex TAFs...but another surge of MVFR will quickly ensue in a short time. With daytime heating, cigs will all become VFR and this is probable by 18 UTC. Broad ascent will promote the development of isolated to scattered SHRA prior to 18 UTC at TAF sites and this is already manifest on area radars. Our presently ascending weather balloon indicates some small vestiges of subsidence, but with daytime heating and stronger ascent expected to win out and there should be a proliferation of convection. When this occurs exactly is a little unknown. I'll maintain an optimistic forecast through 18 UTC with improving cigs and VCSH (though TS is still possible.). TS INVOF Metroplex TAFs will becoming increasingly likely around 1900 UTC with TSRA between 2100 and 0100 UTC. Outside of lightning, strong winds to 30 knots (or greater) as well as hail are hazards to aviation operations. Winds will ultimately shift to the north in the wake of the storms with north flow likely for any overnight diversion recovery operations. MVFR cigs and vsby appear probable after 0200 UTC. For Waco, TSRA appears most probable late this afternoon and into the early evening hours. Hazards will be strong winds and small hail. North flow is expected to envelop ACT and persist through the remainder of the TAF. MVFR cigs and vsby are also forecast at Waco. Confidence in ceiling trends and occurrence of TSRA is medium to high. Confidence in timing of VCTS and TSRA is medium. Bain && .SHORT TERM... /Issued 403 AM CDT Wed May 29 2019/ /Today and Tonight/ Summary....A non-trivial forecast for North and Central Texas today with multiple hazards anticipated with strong to severe thunderstorms. At this juncture, the greatest risk for severe weather will be for locations near and north of a Comanche to Hillsboro to Canton line (including the D/FW Metroplex). Accompanying the severe weather risk will be a threat for flash flooding and continued flooding of streams...creeks...rivers and lakes. Analysis...Early morning surface analysis revealed a cold front was slowly sagging southward through the Panhandles and adjacent portions of northwest Oklahoma. The dryline that sparked convection Tuesday afternoon to the west/northwest was rapidly mixing back towards the west under the quiescent conditions. The resulting moisture surge has produced extensive stratus across the Hill Country...Concho Valley and Permian Basin. On the nose of this stratus surge (likely a gradient in theta-e) is a small complex of strong/severe storms. These storms are expected to migrate eastward through the pre-dawn hours (though not entering our Big Country counties until the 12 to 15 UTC time frame). How intense/widespread these storms become as they make their trek eastward towards North and Central Texas is a little unknown, but given VWP derived 850mb flow is around 35 to 40 knots and LAPS analysis suggests MUCAPE values around 2500 J/kg...I'm inclined to believe that there will be some threat for strong to severe storms this morning across our Big Country counties (areas west of US HWY 281) and the general consensus of hi-resolution guidance would support this thinking. Through mid-morning...Rain and storms should slowly increase as limited diabatic heating, increasing WAA and a slightly stronger wind field are anticipated. Exact magnitudes of the low level wind field remain somewhat nebulous this morning as the guidance differs some. The NAM is by far the aggressor and advertises a much broader and stronger 850mb wind field with the RAP/GFS a bit more unimpressed. Given that the NAM wind field matches up best with current VWP...think that this solution may be the most reasonable. This is important as a stronger 850mb wind field would facilitate a more efficient transport of richer instability northward and could help reinvigorate any convective cells. Note, that if the early morning convection to the west decays...it could take some time for new convective updrafts to develop/mature. Regardless...any mature convective updrafts will find themselves within an environment characterized by 0-6 km bulk shear values near 40 knots, 700-500mb laps rates around 7.5 C/km and CAPE values in excess of 2000 J/kg. This should support a risk for strong to severe storms provided that they can utilize the favorable kinematic and thermodynamic profile. The best risk for strong to severe storms through mid-morning will be northwest of a Comanche to Denton to Gainesville line. After coordination with WFO OUN...I went ahead and tacked on a few counties on the western flank of the inherited Flash Flood Watch. While QPF values are around 1-2", there is a concern that much of this could occur in a very short amount of time and this presents at least a limited risk for flash flooding and continued flooding on area rivers and reservoirs. East of this line, there will be a low risk for a few streamer showers. This afternoon and evening...The severe weather threat is expected to really get going as breaks in the widespread stratus shield should help to boost instability values closer to 3000 J/kg. Despite the conveyor of strongest jet level winds remaining northwest of the area, deep layer shear should remain plentiful for organized convective modes. The exact mode is a bit of a challenge, however. Most if not all guidance yield high confidence that there will be a complex of storms (possibly QLCS in nature) near and just west of the I-35 corridor in North Texas. This would certainly promote a strong to damaging wind risk with QLCS-type tornadoes possible. A more cellular mode would support "cleaner" supercell structures. Jet entrance forcing coupled with decent increasing 850mb WAA per ECMWF/GFS guidance will promote the genesis of additional warm sector convection...not necessarily moored to any larger linear complex. Recent runs of the HRRR are quite aggressive with its depiction of the radarscope near and east of I-35...but given this model's tendency to be a little overzealous, I won't advertise this type of scenario (though I do believe that a few strong cells out ahead of the line east of I-35 are possible). Given the shear- parameter space, any convection ahead of the line should easily take on supercellular characteristics with large hail and strong to damaging winds probable. Examination of forecast hodographs from hi-res guidance reveals a pretty favorable kinematic profile in the 0-1 km layer for tornadic cells. The 2-6 km layer, however, indicates some non- uniformities in the wind profile (that may impact the internal dynamics of thunderstorms and/or storm modes) which casts some doubt on the tornado threat. Unfortunately, the ability to project just exactly how these subtle features in the forecast wind field will impact convective behavior is limited. That said...based on the still favorable 0-1 km kinematic wind field, the tornado risk is appreciable. At this time, the risk for tornadoes will be greatest near and north of the I-20 corridor this afternoon and evening. The flood risk will also increase through the afternoon and evening hours as what should be a predominantly north-south complex of storms takes on somewhat of a more east-west orientation. The steering flow should become largely parallel to this line of convection. This will likely promote the training of convective cells with PWATs exceeding 1.5", storms should be efficient rain producers. In addition to the changes made to the western periphery of the Flash Flood Watch...I added a few counties across East Texas to the current Flash Flood Watch where HREF ensemble means support 1-2" of rainfall. Overnight...the line of convection should eventually attain more of a southerly component as it tracks towards higher instability and gets a nudge from the cold front. Given that flow is largely parallel to the front, this could mean a slower frontal progression than currently advertised by the official forecast and model guidance. If this comes to fruition...the flash flood risk may linger in time and space (including outside of the current watch). Bain && .LONG TERM... /Issued 403 AM CDT Wed May 29 2019/ /Thursday through Tuesday/ The cold front that will be the focus for thunderstorms today and tonight will shift into Central Texas by sunrise Thursday with the aid of convective outflows and building surface high pressure through the Central and Southern High Plains. Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms will linger near the cold front across the southern zones through the day, but increasing large scale subsidence behind a departing shortwave will limit storm coverage and strength. Decreasing cloud cover Thursday will offset weak cold air advection behind the front allowing temperatures to warm into the lower and middle 80s. The front is progged to sag south toward the Texas Coast Thursday night through Friday, but some low rain and thunderstorm chances will linger mainly across Central Texas due to the passage of a compact shortwave and some modest isentropic ascent. The shortwave will pass to the east Friday night, resulting in a period of subsidence. However, low level moisture will steadily increase Saturday in response to another developing low pressure system across the West Coast. This low pressure system should remain across the western U.S. through early next week due to a building ridge across the Plains. Although large scale subsidence will increase with time, some low shower/thunderstorm chances will remain in the forecast Saturday through Tuesday. The best storm chances will be across the Red River counties during the afternoon/early evening both Saturday and Sunday when daytime West Texas convection moves through northwest flow aloft. The good news is that wind fields will not be favorable for long lived updrafts. Therefore, the severe storm potential will be low. The building ridge Saturday through Tuesday will also yield above normal temperatures with highs generally in the upper 80s and lower 90s. Overnight lows will be mild with lower and middle 70s. The surface pressure gradient should be fairly weak Saturday and Sunday keeping winds light, but breezier conditions will likely develop Monday and Tuesday due to a deepening lee trough across the Central High Plains. 79 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 85 66 84 66 85 / 80 90 10 10 20 Waco 87 68 85 66 85 / 40 80 20 30 50 Paris 82 64 83 62 85 / 70 90 10 5 5 Denton 82 60 84 62 85 / 90 80 5 10 20 McKinney 83 63 83 63 84 / 80 90 5 10 10 Dallas 86 67 86 68 86 / 70 90 10 10 20 Terrell 86 67 85 65 85 / 50 80 10 10 20 Corsicana 85 69 84 66 84 / 40 80 20 20 30 Temple 88 68 85 67 85 / 40 70 20 30 50 Mineral Wells 81 62 83 62 83 / 90 60 5 20 30 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flash Flood Watch through Thursday morning for TXZ091>095- 101>107-116>123-131>134. && 24/79
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 357 AM CDT Wed May 29 2019 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-300900- 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- 357 AM CDT Wed May 29 2019 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for North and Central Texas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Severe thunderstorms are possible across all of North and Central Texas today with the best chances generally north of the I-20 corridor. The hazards associated with these storms include large hail, damaging winds and some tornadoes. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding will also be possible, especially north of I-20. Thunderstorm chances will decrease from northwest to southeast tonight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday. Scattered thunderstorms are possible across Central Texas Thursday. Severe storms are not anticipated. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms will remain in the forecast Friday through Tuesday. Widespread severe weather is not expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is possible west of the I-35 corridor this morning and across all of North and Central Texas this afternoon and evening.
The Dyess AFB radar (KDYX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:49 UTC.
11 tornado, 7 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter reported nickel size hail approximately 1 mile west of the city of Breckenridge, TX.
A 42 X 40 barn on a property northeast of Lake Weatherford was lifted about 8 ft, rotated about 45 degrees and shifted about 15-20 ft.
Amateur radio reported penny-size hail at Eagle Mountain Lake.
This tornado initially formed near the Villages of Eagle Mountain subdivision, damaging one home where some of the bricks on the front part of the house fell off. The tornado continued on a track to the east-northeast between W Bailey Boswell Rd and WJ Boaz Rd. In this neighborhood, a couple of trees were snapped, consistent with 80 mph EF-0 winds, but most of the damage found was broken tree branches. The tornado then moved over N Saginaw Blvd (US 287/81) damaging several business signs and bending power poles. It continued to move east-northeast, dissipating between E Bailey Boswell Road and Darlington Trail, where no more damage was found. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 80 mph.
An EF-0 tornado formed just south of the center of Krum. The tornado moved northeast through the eastern portion of the community, producing tree damage and isolated power line damage. The tornado dissipated just northeast of the Krum High School. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 75 mph.
Amateur radio reported a wind gust of 61 mph approximately 2 miles south of the city of Krum, TX.
A few small trees were knocked down at the SageStone and SageWater apartment buildings by Alliance Town Center.
Wind damage occurred in the Haslet area where many small tree limbs were broken off in the Ashmore Farms subdivision. To the southeast of this area, additional tree damage was reported on White Lane, and a 10'x10' wood frame gazebo collapsed on Bayne Road.
A brief EF-1 tornado occurred across parts of the Heritage neighborhood in North Fort Worth. Most of the damage was found in an approximate 8 block area south of Heritage Trace Parkway. There was significant tree damage, roof covering loss and broken windows. Around 30 homes were affected, and 2 homes had minor damage. The tornado started near Burst Dr (just east of Old Denton Rd) and dissipated three minutes later near Kimbell Dr. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 90 mph.
Amateur radio reported power poles down and a trailer damaged in the city of Saginaw, TX.
Amateur radio reported penny size hail approximately 3 miles north of the city of Grapevine, TX.
Amateur radio reported penny size hail in the city of Greenville, TX.
Broadcast media reported several power poles down in the city of Greenville, TX.
Video from near the Leon Tuttle Athletic Complex showed the start of a tornado over the ball fields. Some minor damage occurred as bleachers were lifted and pushed into a backstop. A scoreboard sustained some minor damage and metal sheet roofing was lifted into the air. The tornado moved north and crossed the airfield at Rockwall Municipal Airport, but no damage was reported there. Picture evidence from numerous citizens in Rockwall and Fate shows the condensation funnel of the tornado became more pronounced as it moved north of W Holiday Road between N John King Blvd and N|Stodghill Rd, through some low density residential areas and ranch-land. No additional damage was found along this track, and the tornado is believed to have terminated before reaching FM 552 based on radar and picture evidence. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 75 mph.
A tornado developed near Van Zandt CR 2213, then tracked northeast across HWY 19 south of Canton. Shingle damage occurred to a home, as well as tree branches were broken. The tornado then began to dissipate east of Hwy 19, damaging another home on Van Zandt CR 4201 near Mill Creek. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 75 mph.
Emergency management reported hen-egg size hail in the city of Reno, TX.
A spotter reported debris being lofted by a tornado north of FM 17 and Interstate 20. This is the same location where a tornado tracked later in the day and where signs of damage remain from a tornado that crossed that area in 2017, so determining a path was near impossible.
Emergency management reported baseball size hail in the city of Blossom, TX.
Emergency management reported penny size hail along FM 121 approximately 3 miles east of the city of Tioga, TX.
A tornado began in southern Kaufman County on the northwest side of Cedar Creek Reservoir, near FM 4042 and Valentine Rd. Notable tree damage was observed at the start of the track. The tornado crossed the reservoir and struck the peninsula where Cedar Creek Golf Course is located. Significant tree damage occurred along the track in the form of uprooted and snapped large hardwood trees. Some trees were snapped near the base, but most were snapped about half way up the trunk. The tornado appeared to strengthen to EF-2 winds as it crossed the golf course. On the east side of the peninsula, the tornado significantly damaged a house, lifting the roof off over an attached indoor swimming pool and part of the roof over the main house. The tornado then crossed the reservoir again, did minor tree damage across Hwy 175 and dissipated just past the highway. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 120 mph. One person suffered minor injuries.
A tornado developed near the community of Whitton, then moved northeast, damaging several homes in its path. The most extensive damage was found on Van Zandt CR 2502 and Van Zandt CR 2501, where the EF-2 determination was made. Homes experienced significant roof loss, and a manufactured home was destroyed and tossed well away from its foundation. The tornado then continued moving northeast, easily traceable from continuous tree damage along its path. This tornado then occluded and dissipated as it approached the City of Canton. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 125 mph.
A tornado developed near Canton High School then moved to the northeast toward downtown Canton. Abundant tree damage occurred in southwest Canton, then the tornado strengthened as it approached downtown Canton. Structural damage to several businesses was found as well as tree trunks snapped closer to Interstate 20. This tornado lifted as it approached Interstate 20. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 100 mph.
A tornado developed northeast of Canton, then tracked to the north-northeast affecting mostly vegetation. Several trees were snapped and uprooted along the path. As the tornado began to occlude, minor damage was found to a property along FM 17 and Van Zandt CR 1222. Maximum winds with the tornado were estimated at 90 mph.
A severe thunderstorm produced a long, narrow swath of straight line wind and tornado damage across southern Fannin County. Within the overall wind swath, the survey team found damage consistent with at least one EF-0 tornado. This tornado formed approximately 3 miles southeast of Trenton, and moved east-northeastward 11 miles before ending in the Gober community. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees along the path, and produced minor structural damage to several homes and outbuildings. Peak wind speeds associated with the tornado were estimated to be 85 mph.
A severe thunderstorm produced a long, narrow swath of straight line wind and tornado damage across southern Fannin County. This path of damage extended approximately 25 miles, from southeast of Trenton to south of Honey Grove. Most of the straight line wind damage took the form of snapped and uprooted trees, associated with wind speeds of 70-85 mph. Significant tree, residential and outbuilding damage occurred 1 to 2 miles northwest through northeast of the Bug Tussle Community in eastern Fannin County. This damage was likely associated with very strong downburst winds on the order of 85 to 95 mph. The most significant structural damage was observed along Highway 34, approximately 1.6 miles north of Bug Tussle, where a site-built frame residence had much of its roof blown off. Maximum straight line winds at this location were estimated to be 95-100 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2019Warnings in Texas, May 2019
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: 828658, 831549, 828659, 828735, 828756, 828809, 831541, 831546, 828758, 828794, 828660, 828661, 828795, 828760, 828764, 828662, 828772, 828663, 828664, 828780, 828790, 828791, 828792, 828793, 828808.