Summary

On the evening of 28 March 2000, two tornados struck Fort Worth, Arlington, and Grand Prairie, Texas. The Fort Worth Tornado touched down west of the city, and moved through the downtown area. The tornado was rated an F2 on the Fujita scale at its strongest point. The Arlington tornado started as an F3, and varied from F2 to F0 throughout its 6.5 mile track. The damages from these tornados was estimated at $450 million in the Fort Worth area. 5 F2's, and 8 F0-F1's. While southern Louisiana's annual average for tornados is 13 (1950-1995), it hosted 12 tornados on 1-2 January. All of the tornados were indicated by WSR-88D radars in Lake Charles and Fort Polk, Louisiana. The average lead time was an impressive 24 minutes. There was one fatality in Texas, but, given the severity of the outbreak and the fact that it happened overnight, it is fortunate that there were not more people injured or killed

Objectives:

This case provides an example of a Texas severe weather event, and allows an in-depth study of the severe weather mechanisms in the Southern plains and Texas.