On the afternoon of September 21, North Texas experienced explosive thunderstorm development due to a shortwave trough and a meandering front interacting with a warm, unstable environment. These storms persisted through the evening and dissipated overnight into the morning of September 22.
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.
On the afternoon of September 21, North Texas experienced explosive thunderstorm development due to a shortwave trough and a meandering front interacting with a warm, unstable environment. These storms persisted through the evening and dissipated overnight into the morning of September 22. Multiple storms produced reports of large hail and damaging winds, with some isolated instances of flash flooding also occurring.
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 21, 11:27 AM CST, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 1227 PM CDT Sun Sep 21 2025 ...New Short Term, Long Term, Aviation... .KEY MESSAGES... - Isolated severe storms with a hail threat are expected late this afternoon mainly west and northwest of the Metroplex. - A cold front will move through North Texas Tuesday evening with increasing storm chances. Near normal temperatures will return Wednesday through Saturday. && .SHORT TERM... /NEW/ /This Afternoon through Monday Night/ Visible satellite and radar imagery shows a decaying cluster of showers and thunderstorms along the Red River with a notable decrease in intensity observed over the last hour. Outflow from this convection continues to settle southward into an increasingly moist and unstable airmass. The main concern for the rest of the afternoon and evening will be additional convective potential, including some severe storms during peak afternoon heating. Water vapor imagery and RAP objective analysis of the 1.5 PVU surface indicates an embedded shortwave trough spreading through northwest Oklahoma at this hour. Ascent ahead of this feature is resulting in an expanding cloud deck across the western part of Oklahoma and an uptick in convective activity. This feature and its associated lift should spread southeast into North Texas through this evening thanks to northwest flow aloft around a mid level ridge axis. At the surface, a quasi-stationary frontal boundary lingers north of I-20 and is being sharpened by convective outflow to the north. Low level moisture convergence and theta-e advection has really ramped up over the last few hours along the I-20 corridor from the western parts of the Metroplex out toward Abilene. Several hours of heating should result in an increasingly unstable boundary layer by mid afternoon and isolated thunderstorms should develop as large scale forcing for ascent spreads in North Texas. The bulk of this activity should develop near the maxima in surface theta-e advection and moisture convergence off to the west and northwest of the Metroplex around 21Z. This is supported by the latest NAMNest and nearly all of the RRFS ensemble members. The HRRR does seem to be most aggressive with re-developing convection closer to the Red River and spreading it south into the Metroplex late this evening, however, that area is pretty worked over from morning convection and currently resides within a minimum in instability. We'll have the highest PoPs for the rest of this afternoon and evening across our western and northwest counties with activity diminishing in coverage and intensity after sunset. Deep layer shear will increase through the day ahead of the approaching upper disturbance and combined with modest afternoon instability, will support a localized severe weather threat including isolated supercells with large hail. Relatively high cloud bases would also suggest a wind threat with any organized convection. Mid level ridging and a more westerly flow aloft should have more influence across the region on Monday with storm chances generally less than 10% across the area. Temperatures will continue 8-10 degrees above normal through Tuesday. Dunn && .LONG TERM... /NEW/ /Tuesday through Saturday/ A broad central CONUS trough will continue to amplify on Tuesday with a shortwave swinging into the Southern Plains during the day. This will help send a cold front southward through North Texas late in the day. Showers and thunderstorms will develop along the front during the late afternoon and spread southeast through the late evening hours with some potential for a few strong storms. The main forcing for ascent will begin to pull off to the east by late Tuesday evening, but a secondary upstream trough will dig into the Plains on Wednesday. This will effectively push the frontal boundary into Deep South Texas and send cooler and drier air into our area. While not a significantly colder push of area, temperatures will fall back closer to seasonal norms Wednesday through Saturday with little chance for additional rainfall into next weekend. Dunn && .AVIATION... /NEW/ /18Z TAFs/ VFR prevail across the area this afternoon outside of a cluster of showers along the Red River. An outflow boundary continues to push southward from this activity and is about to enter the northwest parts of the Metroplex, although wind speeds are generally light behind this feature. The main concern for the rest of the afternoon and evening will be the potential for additional storms to develop along this boundary and farther west near an approaching dryline. Additional storms should start to develop well to the west over the next few hours and will generally move east-southeast with time into the evening hours. It's a little uncertain whether or not we'll actually see storms impact the major airports this evening with the bulk of the activity likely west and northwest. We'll continue the VCTS from 23-02Z to account for any of these storms making a run at the Metroplex. Otherwise, VFR should prevail with a south wind 10-15 kt. Dunn && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 92 74 94 75 94 / 10 30 5 10 30 Waco 92 73 94 74 95 / 5 20 0 5 20 Paris 91 71 91 73 92 / 10 20 30 20 40 Denton 92 73 94 74 95 / 20 30 10 20 40 McKinney 92 73 92 74 94 / 10 30 10 10 40 Dallas 93 74 95 75 96 / 10 30 5 10 30 Terrell 91 72 92 73 92 / 5 20 5 10 30 Corsicana 92 74 94 75 94 / 5 20 5 5 20 Temple 92 72 94 73 94 / 5 20 5 5 20 Mineral Wells 95 71 98 73 96 / 20 30 5 10 40 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. &&
The Dyess AFB radar (KDYX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:35 UTC.
22 hail, 19 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Scattered downed trees and sheet metal was removed from buildings throughout Olney. Wooden power poles were leaning, spectator stands at the baseball fields were damaged, and a 40 foot storage container was moved.
A trained spotter reported quarter sized hail 5 and 1/2 miles north of Lake Graham.
A public report indicated ping pong ball sized hail in Knollwood.
An amateur radio report indicated half-dollar sized hail midway between Sherman and Knollwood.
A public report indicated 2 inch diameter hail near Interstate 35 midway between Valley View and Sanger.
A trained spotter measured tennis ball sized hail in Luella.
Five campers were overturned as the Sanger KOA near I-35 and View Rd. One person in a camper died later but it was determined to be from a health issue and not from injuries sustained in the storm.
Thunderstorm winds tore a 45-50 foot hole in the roof of the Walmart Distribution Center north of Sanger, and another warehouse had one of the outside walls partially collapsed.
Broken tree limbs and power poles were reported on Belz Road north of Sanger.
The Villas at Hunnington and Trails of Sanger apartments sustained minor damage including missing shingles, roof damage, and vehicle cover damage.
Reported via mPing.
Reported via mPing.
Large hail 2.25-2.5 inches in size fell for 8-10 minutes about 3 miles southeast of Howe. Windows were broken and roof damage was observed. The weather station at this location also measured 62 mph winds with large tree branches broken.
A weather station approximately 3 miles southeast of Howe measured a 62 mph wind gust. Large tree branches were also broken. Large hail was also reported at this location, causing additional damage.
Eleven wooden power and communication poles were broken along Highway 902 east of Howe between the power substation and Harrell Rd.
A social media photo and video showed a large tree uprooted near Spanish Fort, approximately 2 feet in diameter.
Reported via mPing.
Photos were received of multiple trees snapped and branches down just east of Desdemona.
Reported via mPing.
A 64 mph wind gust was measured at Hwy 288 and I-35 on the north side of Denton.
Reported via mPing.
Golf ball sized hail was reported in Van Alstyne.
Reported via mPing.
Reported via mPing.
Penny sized hail fell for about 5 minutes on the northern side of Denton. This was reported via mPing.
Reported via mPing.
Reported via mPing.
Reported via mPing.
A 68 mph wind gust was measured at TWU in Denton.
Reported via mPing.
A mobile home lost its roof and outbuildings were knocked down on CR 347, located southeast of Proctor.
Metal and lightweight structures sustained damage in Perrin.
The front entrance of a building in Mingus collapsed inward with glass blown out of the front windows.
A 72 mph wind gust was measured in Ponder. Large tree damage was reported southeast of FM 156 and FM 2449, along with minor roof damage. Large tree limbs were broken, fences were down, and a trampoline punctured a roof.
Northbound I35W was been closed at Oak Street due to high water on the roadway.
Multiple roads were closed due to high water and include C Wolfe in Ponder, Mousehole, Jackson, and Radecke in Krum, and Swafford and Linnie Bell Rd in Justin.
An analysis of tree damage in and around the Roanoke area suggests winds up to 65 mph broke many large tree limbs and damaged an apartment complex under construction that was in the framing phase.
Rector Rd near Sanger was closed due to high water.
Two house fires were caused by lightning in the Brookside community in Princeton.
An mPING report of street flooding was received near McKinney.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, September 2025
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: 1295492, 1294909, 1294910, 1294911, 1294912, 1294913, 1295390, 1295496, 1295498, 1295499, 1295500, 1295391, 1295395, 1295392, 1295394, 1295396, 1295397, 1295605, 1295501, 1295393, 1295502, 1295399, 1295503, 1295398, 1295504, 1295400, 1295508, 1295509, 1295511, 1295512, 1295513, 1295514, 1295515, 1295516, 1295618, 1295624, 1295627, 1295518, 1295631, 1295521, and more.