Terrible Texas Twisters 

The October 20, 2019 Tornado Outbreak in North Texas

By Don Padilla

Tornadoes, (or twisters if you're a local) are nothing new to Texas. Nearly every other week during the Spring there's a tornado watch for a day or two due to a storm system moving in, but nothing serious has ever devastated North Texas in recent memory. 

Until October 20th, 2019. 

(An EF-3 tornado sweeps through Northern Dallas during the night)

I was in my house trying to ignore the storm outside while my parents were watching the Dallas Cowboys playing that Sunday night. We were given ample warnings by the National Weather Service to prepare for a strong cold front moving in, but like always we weren't worried about it. Cold fronts were common in the fall, where a mass of cold air from the north would sweep in and make contact with warm moist Gulf air mass. This often produced violent and windy storms around Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, but it usually was never any cause for concern. 

Then, I heard the Emergency alarm go off on the T.V. A tornado warning was issued for our county due to a Tornado capable storm moving in. Tornadoes are the result of circulation from a storm system, usually a supercell thunderstorm. 

(A supercell thunderstorm in Oklahoma. Image courtesy of NSSL/NOAA)

A supercell thunderstorm is a large storm with rotation, usually driven by cold air that sinks to the ground and hot air that rises. If this rotation grows strong enough, it can form a Tornado, a twisting column of rotating air moving at hundreds of miles per hour. During the night, the cold front had formed several supercell thunderstorms that rotated a lot, forming the perfect storm for a particularly strong tornado that night.

(A look at the possible paths of tornados on Oct. 20, 2019 in the DFW area. Credit: WFAA)

An EF-3 Tornado formed in Northern Dallas, with winds up to 140 MPH, and made its way up through residential Dallas befoe hitting the northern suburb cities of Ricardson and eventually Sachse. The tornado in total managed to create around $2 Billion worth of damage, making it the costliest tornado disaster in Texas history. Miraculously, no one died or was even seriously injured during the event, mostly due to the early warning and detection by meteorologists. 

(Storm damage in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, Oct. 21, 2019.)

As for my family and I, we were safe in Plano, just a few miles north of the tornado's path, though there was still a lot of obstructions on the road and fallen trees and plants. This was the closest I have ever been to a tornado in Texas, so it was certainly a memorable experience.

References: 

https://www.wfaa.com/article/weather/severe-weather/heres-what-we-know-about-last-nights-storms-in-dfw/287-57151003-047e-4115-be9f-bba1c9e0eff3

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/tornado-damage-dallas-garland-from-oct-20-2019/1965902/

https://www.wunderground.com/prepare/supercell

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=856409