If you've been in Texas for very long, you come to expect severe weather every spring.  Tornadoes, hail, lightning and thunder, heavy rain, flash floods, damaging wind…  We get it all.  This spring just got off to a very good start.  We've been under a tornado watch since early this afternoon.  Well, we didn't get a tornado (around here, that is, since there were some elsewhere), but we did get three successive storms, each worse than the one before it, and finished off with a hail storm that left it looking like winter outside.  And this wasn't just any hail storm.  Some of the hail was baseball size, and it lasted for 30 minutes or so.  Sounded like a war going on outside, and I and my roommate were convinced it was going to break some of the windows in the house.  Luckily that didn't happen.  Our cars were tucked away safely in the garage, but I can't say the same for other folks around here — all of whom are outside right now checking out the damage.  The power was out for about 45 minutes, but that was nothing more than an inconvenience.  And to think, we might get some more storms overnight and/or tomorrow morning before all of this goes away.

To see the National Weather Service warnings for us right now (to get an idea of what's been going on), choose the Read more link below.

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SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
TXC085-060545-

BULLETIN – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1038 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR…
COLLIN COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS

* UNTIL 1145 PM CST

* AT 1038 PM CST…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF PLANO…MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR…
WYLIE…LOWRY CROSSING AROUND 1045 PM CST
PRINCETON AROUND 1050 PM CST
FARMERSVILLE AROUND 1105 PM CST

HAIL TO THE SIZE OF BASEBALLS IS LIKELY. THIS CAN CAUSE SIGNIFICANT
INJURIES AND PROPERTY DAMAGE. MOVE TO A STURDY SHELTER AND STAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM PASSES.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNING AREA. SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.

LAT…LON 3315 9673 3299 9669 3300 9630 3327 9631

$$

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TORNADO WATCH
AREAL OUTLINE FOR TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 96
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
942 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 96 IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 AM CDT.

IN TEXAS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 48 COUNTIES…

TXC085-097-113-121-139-147-181-217-221-231-237-251-257-337-349-363-
367-397-429-439-497-503-060900-
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 22 COUNTIES…

COLLIN COOKE DALLAS DENTON
ELLIS FANNIN GRAYSON HILL
HOOD HUNT JACK JOHNSON
KAUFMAN MONTAGUE NAVARRO PALO PINTO
PARKER ROCKWALL STEPHENS TARRANT
WISE YOUNG

$$

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HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-061200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK…UPDATED SPOTTER ACTIVATION INFO.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
340 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS.

.DAY ONE…
THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT FOR AREAS
NORTH OF I-20 AND WEST OF I-35. THIS INCLUDES EASTLAND…BOWIE…
SHERMAN…PARIS…GREENVILLE…AND THE DALLAS FORT WORTH METROPLEX.
THE REMAINDER OF NORTH TEXAS IS UNDER A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE
PRIMARY THREATS. HOWEVER…THE CURRENT LOW-LEVEL VERTICAL WIND
PROFILES CONTINUE TO SUGGEST THE POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELLS AND
ISOLATED TORNADOES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH TEXAS
SUNDAY…PRIMARILY EAST OF I-35. THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT…
SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY WEST OF A NOCONA…WEATHERFORD…
CISCO LINE AFTER 5 PM. ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED WEST OF A
SHERMAN…DALLAS…KILLEEN LINE AFTER 8 PM. SPOTTERS EAST OF I-35
SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION AFTER MIDNIGHT.

$$

ROBBINS

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SHORT TERM FORECAST
SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1057 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

TXZ102-103-117>119-060600-
DALLAS-DENTON-PARKER-TARRANT-WISE-
1057 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

.NOW…
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED EAST OF THE AREA. HOWEVER…
ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS MAY REDEVELOP WEST OF THE AREA AFTER
MIDNIGHT. THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE AS THEY APPROACH THE
DALLAS…FORT WORTH AREA LATE TONIGHT.

$$

26

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FLASH FLOOD WARNING
TXC113-439-060545-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1106 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

…THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING CANCELED FOR TARRANT AND DALLAS
COUNTIES…

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT PROMPTED THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAVE
MOVED OUT OF THE WARNING AREA…AND THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR
TARRANT AND DALLAS COUNTIES HAS BEEN CANCELED.

EARLIER…SEVERAL ROADS IN NORTHERN DALLAS COUNTY WERE REPORTED TO
BE UNDER ONE FOOT OF RAPIDLY FLOWING WATER…BUT THE HIGH WATER HAS
RECEDED.

LAT…LON 3298 9656 3281 9654 3279 9751 3299 9750

$$

07/BB

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