The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for Tarrant County and much of North Texas until 9 p.m. Tuesday, warning residents to brace for damaging winds, large hail and a low risk of tornadoes as storms redeveloped during the afternoon. The watch covered Dallas, Denton, Collin, Parker, Johnson, Hood and more than a dozen other counties across the region.
Hail up to the size of golf balls was reported in Jack, Palo Pinto and Young counties, and some storms were expected to become severe enough to produce damaging winds and very large hail. Tornado warnings for counties west of the Metroplex had expired by the time of the report, but forecasters said an isolated touchdown could not be ruled out.
The timing mattered because the weather threat was expected to return during the afternoon and around the rush hour for the Metroplex, with highs reaching the mid-80s before conditions quieted overnight. The FOX 4 Weather team said people should stay weather aware beginning early in the afternoon as storms rebuilt to the north and moved through the evening commute window.
The watch arrived as North Texas was still dealing with the aftermath of last weekend’s tornadoes in Parker and Wise counties. In Springtown, schools were closed Tuesday and more than 30% of the community was still without power, underscoring how little time the area has had to recover before the next round of severe weather.
Alisha Recklein said crews that visited one storm-hit property described it as devastation beyond repair. “They went to the property and they said it was a horror story,” she said. “Like nothing was there. The house was gone. His family was laying around.” The comments captured the immediate human cost still unfolding as the region faces another severe-weather day.
That damage was part of a deadly weekend stretch that included an EF-2 tornado Saturday evening in Runaway Bay, where Juan Madrid was killed. With a cold front expected to shift south Wednesday and bring cooler temperatures, cloud cover and lingering slight chances for rain, another disturbance is set to bring scattered storms Thursday. The next few days may bring some relief from the heat, but not yet a full break from the threat of more severe weather across Weather Fort Worth.
