Yesterday, a twister spinning between Mineral Wells and the tiny town of Cool turned a routine round of spring storms into a serious situation for western DFW, with warnings stretching toward Weatherford and nearby communities. Radar and local meteorologists flagged tight rotation in the cell as it slid southeast, raising alarms about hail, damaging winds and dangerous debris.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth triggered a Tornado Warning shortly before 5 p.m. CDT, noting that radar had locked onto a rotating thunderstorm about four miles north of Mineral Wells and moving southeast at around 35 mph. The bulletin called out threats of "golf ball size hail" and wind gusts near 70 mph, warned that mobile homes could be destroyed and highlighted a section of Interstate 20 between mile markers 396 and 417 as being in the crosshairs, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
FOX 4 meteorologists Dan Henry, Kylie Capps and Josh Johns were on live TV as the storm rolled through, and they shared video that clearly showed a funnel cloud between Mineral Wells and Cool. The station posted the clip and its on-air analysis at about 5:22 p.m. CDT, giving viewers a real-time look at the storm’s structure as it inched toward the Metroplex, as shown on FOX 4.
Storm System And Watches
A Tornado Watch covered much of north-central Texas through Tuesday evening, tied to a larger multi-day severe weather outbreak that forecasters said could spin up very large hail and a few tornadoes across the Plains and the South. National outlets and forecast services singled out the Dallas-Fort Worth area for an elevated severe-weather risk, including the possibility of baseball- to softball-size hail, per Weather.com.
What To Do
Forecasters urged anyone under a warning to get inside a sturdy building, move to an interior room on the lowest floor, stay clear of windows and shield themselves from flying debris. Officials also cautioned that people in vehicles or mobile homes should head to more substantial shelter immediately and asked residents to report any storm damage to local law enforcement so the National Weather Service can log official storm reports, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
As of publication time, formal damage assessments were still in progress, and local emergency managers had not released a complete tally. This story will be updated as officials post confirmed information and storm survey results.
