Severe storms hit Houston and Dallas as 1.4 million people lose power in Texas

In less than 24 hours, multiple severe storms producing blinding rain, hail and winds of more than 70 mph hit Dallas, Houston and other areas of North and East Texas, leaving nearly 1 .4 million customers in the dark. The Houston-area storms struck just 12 days after being hit by a derecho, or severe straight-line wind storm, that killed eight people and unleashed 100 mph wind gusts.

The storms knocked out power to nearly 400,000 customers in Dallas County and more than 280,000 in Harris County, where Houston is located. Dozens of counties southeast of Dallas and north of Houston experienced significant outages affecting 30 to 60 percent of total customers.

Additional storms were possible in west and south Texas through Tuesday evening.

Dallas was hit by two complexes of storms in about 12 hours — the first late Monday afternoon, the second before dawn Tuesday.

Tuesday morning’s storms brought winds of more than 70 mph around Dallas and surrounding areas. A gust of 83 mph was recorded in Denton, while Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field recorded gusts of 77 mph and 75 mph, respectively.

As these same storms headed south, they produced heavy rain, hail, and numerous wind gusts of 60 mph or more, affecting Lufkin and Coldspring as they plunged toward the Houston area. A gust of 75 mph was observed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, just north of Houston.

Reports of wind damage spread Tuesday afternoon in the area from Houston to Lake Charles, where gusts of around 55 to 60 mph were common. The roof of a car wash collapsed in Kountze, northwest of Beaumont.

During morning storms near Dallas, the weather service received reports of downed trees and damaged buildings, including the roof torn off a commercial building near Addison, a suburb about 13 miles north from Dallas. “Major damage” was reported at North Forney High School, about 23 miles east of the city.

Videos on social media showed sheets of rain being blown sideways by violent gusts while lightning flashed frequently. Visibility at Dallas-Fort Worth International dropped to zero during the storm. In Houston, similar scenes emerged mid-afternoon as visibility dropped and the sky turned black.

Monday’s storm

Before that, Dallas was hit Monday afternoon when a solitary supercell or rotating thunderstorm developed directly above the city. A storm cell over Tarrant County, just west of Dallas, dropped baseball-sized hail. Video on social media even captured the moments hail shattered the skylights of a Walmart, with chunks of ice and shards of glass raining down onto the store’s retail floor below.

The weather service received more than 100 reports of large hail Monday, mostly from northeast Texas.

It was initially unclear how much damage occurred in the area, but hail is the costliest severe thunderstorm hazard in the Lone Star State. Hail damage generally exceeds that of thunderstorms or tornadoes.

Monday night’s hailstorms reached more than 60,000 feet in height and were even visible from north of Oklahoma City, about 180 miles away.

Why these storms keep happening

Texas storms formed on the northern outskirts of a “heat dome,” or ridge of high pressure, that stationed itself over Mexico and brought record temperatures there. Thunderstorms like to ride the edge of thermal domes, straddling the boundary along which temperatures change with distance. So-called ridge runners also harness the energy of the jet stream, mixing momentum at the surface in the form of damaging straight-line winds.

Fortunately, the weather is expected to be relatively calm on Wednesday. But another band of windy thunderstorms is expected to pop up Thursday in Colorado’s High Plains and blow southeast toward Dallas.