F3 tornado, Arlington to Grand Prairie, Texas, March 28, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F3

Date

March 28, 2000

Touchdown

7:05 PM CST (01:05 UTC)

Path length

8.0 miles (12.9 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Tarrant and Dallas counties

Touchdown point

32.730, -97.120

Lift-off point

32.750, -96.980

Record number

701

Tarrant County Thunderstorm Narrative The first tornado damage was reported near Castleberry High School, about four miles west of downtown Fort Worth (618 PM). Additional roof and tree damage occurred in Monticello neighborhood of River Oaks. A number of businesses were then damaged or destroyed near the intersection of Camp Bowie and West Seventh (620 PM). Tornado moved east along West Seventh Street, striking the Montgomery Ward building and the adjacent Linwood neighborhood, doing extensive damage to older homes (622 PM). The tornado then did extensive damage to the six story Cash America building, nearly destroying it. Further significant damage was then done to the Mallick Tower building and Calvary Cathedral Building (624 PM). The tornado weakened as it entered downtown, but wind borne debris broke thousands of windows in buildings and high rises (626 PM). Particularly hard hit was the Bank One Building, which had 80% (3,000) of its windows broken, and the Union Pacific Resources Building (1,300 of 5,000 windows broken). Numerous other structures were affected to a lesser degree. Automobiles in streets and parking lots were also damaged. The tornado then dissipated as it moved east of downtown, although scattered minor damage occurred to roofs, trees, fences, and billboards about 3 miles east of the city near I-30 and Brentwood Stair. Two people were killed as a direct result of the tornado. A man (age 52) was killed while trying to reach shelter after warning others of the tornado, while a homeless man (age 67) was killed by a wall that collapsed on him. Some 80 other people were injured, but only six required hospitalization. Hail did extensive damage to roofs and autos mainly in Lake Worth and Saginaw. Initial tornado damage in Arlington occurred at a restaurant on South Cooper street. The tornado moved east and gained strength, doing F3 damage near Bardin and Matlock (707 PM), south of I-20. The tornado then struck the northern part of Arlington Airport (F2). The tornado paralled I-20, crossing the Interstate about one mile west of Highway 360, overturning at least one 18-wheeler (F1)(712 PM). The tornado then began moving northeast, ending with F2 damage to subdivision just northeast of Grand Prairie airport (near Arkansas and Parkside)(720 PM). In spite of the damage, there were no deaths or serious injuries in Arlington or Grand Prairie. One commercial building was destroyed in Arlington, and 22 others damaged. Residential building damage (Tarrant county) was as follows: Location Destroyed Major Damage Minor Damage Azle 0 0 13 (hail) Lake Worth 0 0 118 (hail) River Oaks 0 3 51 Fort Worth 28 48 136 Arlington 67 146 458 Grand Prairie 6 9 32 Total 101 206 808

Dallas County Thunderstorm NarrativeThe parent storm that produced the Arlington-Grand Prairie tornado moved east into Dallas county about 1915C. The storm produced several funnels between Desoto and Lancaster, eventually producing a brief touchdown in rural areas between Red Oak and Wilmer (spotters). Street flooding was reported in southwest Dallas.

The Arlington tornado damaged several homes just to the west of the Tarrant/Dallas county line in Grand Prairie (see above) before dissipating shortly after 1920 CST.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

25 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:40 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:05 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.