Thunderstorms developed along a Pacific cold front as it and an upper level trough swept through the Plains on Christmas Eve 2024. The system produce a few severe storms across Central Texas and flash flooding in parts of North Texas.
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.
Thunderstorms developed along a Pacific cold front as it and an upper level trough swept through the Plains on Christmas Eve 2024. The system produce a few severe storms across Central Texas and flash flooding in parts of North Texas. In addition, a brief EF-0 occurred in southwest Freestone County damaging 2 properties.
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 Dec 24, 5:27 AM CST, 4 hours 3 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 527 AM CST Tue Dec 24 2024 ...New Aviation, Short Term... .KEY MESSAGES... - Widespread showers and a few strong to severe storms expected today (Christmas Eve). - Wednesday (Christmas Day) will be rain-free, but storm chances return on Thursday. && .SHORT TERM... /NEW/ Update: A weak cold front is right on our northwest border and will make its way slowly southeast through the region over the next 12 hours. An increase in shower and storm coverage is expected later this morning and especially this afternoon as the boundary encounters a more unstable environment the farther south and east it gets. The ongoing forecast is in good shape with only minor grid adjustments needed with this forecast update. 30 Previous Discussion: /Through Christmas Day/ A shortwave trough currently traversing the Rockies will be the primary weather feature of note for North and Central Texas over the next 24 hours. The shortwave will deepen while dropping southeast into the Texas Panhandle overnight and inducing surface cyclogenesis just northwest of the forecast area. Attached to the surface low will be a Pacific cold front, which together with the upper level system will sweep across the region on Christmas Eve. A warm/moist advection regime out ahead of the front and associated low cloud cover will keep temperatures a good 20 degrees above normal overnight into Tuesday morning, with lows in the 50s to low 60s. The overnight hours should remain largely precipitation-free, though rain showers will be on the increase towards morning. The front will enter the northwest zones before daybreak, with a broken band of showers and thunderstorms developing along the boundary near the North Texas I-35 corridor 7 to 9 AM. The pre-frontal environment will initially contain less than 1000 J/kg of mixed layer CAPE, limiting the threat for severe storms for the morning hours. Instability will increase with daytime heating, however, as the front pushes slowly southeast into Central and East Texas. Deep layer shear will be less than optimal, but an isolated severe storm or two may still form Tuesday afternoon as the front pushes into the significantly more unstable airmass (2500 J/kg of most unstable CAPE) across Central and East Texas. Any surface based convection will gradually work its way east of the region late afternoon into Tuesday evening along the slowly advancing front. Additional convection looks possible behind the front Tuesday evening as the shortwave continues to sharpen and develops a closed low immediately overhead. This activity would be mainly east of I-35 and south of I-20. These storms would be elevated and likely sub-severe, but the cold core aloft and associated steep mid level lapse rates could still lead to small hail in a few storms. All activity will move east of the forecast area a little after midnight Tuesday night as the axis of the shortwave heads for East Texas. The front itself will stall just east and south of the forecast area as a larger shortwave trough quickly approaches. Isentropic ascent will intensify late Tuesday night and Christmas Day as the trough races east through the Four Corners region. The result will be low clouds, patchy fog and occasional pockets of drizzle, making for a gray and seasonable Christmas with highs in the 50s to lower 60s. 30 && .LONG TERM... /Issued 407 AM CST Tue Dec 24 2024/ /Thursday Through Early Next Week/ Unsettled weather will continue into the last weekend of December with rain-free and unseasonably warm weather for the final days of 2024. The next storm system, currently approaching the West Coast, will become a closed low as it swings through the Southern Plains Thursday and Thursday night. This will force a dryline to surge into the region, ahead of which rapid moist advection will send dew points above 60F. Convection may be ongoing along the boundary within our western zones during the morning hours. Dense cloud cover and warm advection showers could disrupt the destabilization process across Central and East Texas, but considerable shear may help updrafts overcome this limitation. Although the convective activity will likely be quasi-linear, individual supercells may initially pose a hail threat before a more congealed line becomes primarily a damaging wind concern. Low LCLs may enhance the potential for tornadoes with both the individual cells and with bowing segments within the more coherent line as shear profiles favor the potential for QLCS spin-ups. However, severe weather will be more likely east of our area as the complex persists into the evening hours. Our parade of frontal boundaries will continue into the weekend, after which our rain chances will finally come to an end. Westerly winds will offset any cold advection, and Saturday's temperatures will match Friday's. A warming trend will push temperatures into the 70s regionwide by Monday before the next cold front arrives. 25 && .AVIATION... /NEW/ /12Z TAFs/ MVFR ceilings will deteriorate to IFR over the next hour or two as a weak cold front approaches from the northwest. Will begin VCTS in the DFW Metroplex at 14Z with a TEMPO TSRA group from 17Z to 21Z. FROPA should occur during that same time frame, shifting winds to the northwest at 5 to 10 kt. VCTS will begin much later (around 22Z) at KACT with a TEMPO TSRA group from 23Z to 03Z. Precipitation will push off to the east tonight with conditions falling back into IFR by Christmas morning. 30 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 66 52 60 51 63 / 80 40 0 5 70 Waco 72 53 62 51 66 / 70 60 0 5 60 Paris 62 54 61 54 63 / 90 70 10 5 70 Denton 64 49 59 48 61 / 70 30 0 5 70 McKinney 64 51 59 50 62 / 80 50 5 5 70 Dallas 66 53 61 52 63 / 80 50 0 5 70 Terrell 67 53 61 52 64 / 90 70 5 5 70 Corsicana 71 56 63 54 67 / 80 80 5 5 70 Temple 72 52 66 51 69 / 70 60 0 0 60 Mineral Wells 64 49 61 47 64 / 50 20 0 5 60 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 407 AM CST Tue Dec 24 2024 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-251015- 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- 407 AM CST Tue Dec 24 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for North and Central Texas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Thunderstorm chances will increase today and continue tonight. A few of these storms will be strong with gusty winds and small hail. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Thunderstorm chances will return Thursday. Some of the storms could be severe, particularly across Central and East Texas. Additional thunderstorms may accompany a cold front Friday night into Saturday morning. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Fort Worth TX
719 AM CST Tue Dec 24 2024
TXZ117-241345-
Parker TX-
719 AM CST Tue Dec 24 2024
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Parker
County through 745 AM CST...
At 718 AM CST, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near
Weatherford, moving east at 20 mph.
HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and pea size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is
possible.
This strong thunderstorm will be near...
Weatherford and Hudson Oaks around 725 AM CST.
Willow Park, Annetta, and Lake Weatherford around 730 AM CST.
Other locations impacted by this storm include Annetta South, Annetta
North, and Sanctuary.
This includes the following highways...
Interstate 20 between mile markers 399 and 422.
Interstate 30 near mile marker 1.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
&&
LAT...LON 3292 9754 3264 9755 3261 9792 3280 9795
TIME...MOT...LOC 1318Z 255DEG 17KT 3273 9781
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN
MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH
ShamburgerThe Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:31 UTC.
8 flash flood, 5 hail, 1 flood, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Two fatalities occurred when their SUV hydroplaned off of the US 75 service road and ended up overturned in a flooded drainage culvert. The two individuals were swept away into Post Oak Creek.
Minor roadway flooding was reported by local officials.
An mPING report indicated flooding 5 miles southwest of Springtown.
A local official reported roadway flooding 3 miles east of Samsom Park.
An mPING report indicated flooding 2 miles north of Addison.
Texas Department of Transportation reported multiple lanes blocked on Interstate 35 East near Valwood Parkway due to high water.
An mPING report of flash flooding was received 3 miles south of Farmer's Branch.
Rowlett Creek at both Renner Rd and Campbell Rd was reported to be rapidly rising, and a car was stranded in floodwaters on Campbell Rd due to rapidly rising water.
A social media video indicated a stalled car due to high water 2 miles west of Highland Park.
A brief tornado formed in southwest Freestone County, just west of the Freestone Community. The tornado traveled a distance of approximately one half mile, and primarily affected two structures off of Freestone County Road 841. Both structures were residences. The first residence had a portion of the aluminum cladding from its roof removed by the tornado. A nearby outbuilding and wellhouse also sustained damage. The tornado also impacted a nearby manufactured home, pushing the structure slightly off of its foundation piers. Some damage to the residence's porch roofs also occurred. The tornado subsequently crossed Freestone County Road 841, damaging large limbs on several hardwood and softwood trees lining the road. The tornado then crossed into an open field, traveled an additional 200 yards, and dissipated.
A public report and photos indicated ping pong to golf ball sized hail.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flood, Grayson | 2024-12-24 | 8 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
| Flood, Grayson | 2024-12-24 | 36 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2024Warnings in Texas, December 2024
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: 1289126, 1226430, 1226431, 1226432, 1226435, 1227461, 1227466, 1229328, 1227468, 1226422, 1226423, 1226424, 1226425, 1226428, 1226426.