CITY OF OKLAHOMA — As severe storms moved through Texas and Oklahoma Saturday night, a tornado touched down in Texas and crossed an interstate. The storms caused damage and could have hurt people.
In parts of both states, tornado and strong thunderstorm warnings were sent out. During the day in South Texas, some heat records were broken, and people were warned about triple-digit temperatures over the long holiday weekend.
Late Saturday night, a tornado hit northern Denton County, Texas. It flipped over tractor-trailer trucks and stopped traffic on Interstate 35, according to a statement from Dawn Cobb, the community relations director for Denton County.
Cobb said that the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for northern Denton County after the tornado was seen moving east at 40 mph (64 kph) near Valley View.
Cobb said that the storm injured homes, flipped over motorhomes, and brought down power lines and trees all over the area, including in Sanger, Pilot Point, Ray Roberts Lake, and Isle du Bois State Park. He also said that the number of injuries in the county was not known right away.
The fire department in Denton, Texas, which is about 37 miles (59.5 kilometers) north of Fort Worth, Texas, wrote on X that they were going to a marina to help “multiple victims, some reported trapped.”
On social media, the police in Claremore, Oklahoma, said that the city, which is about 28 miles (45 kilometers) east of Tulsa, was “shut down” because of storm damage that included trees and power lines that had fallen down and roads that couldn’t be used.
The Norman, Oklahoma, office of the National Weather Service initially issued the warning on Saturday night through the social networking site X. The warning was for northern Noble and far southern Kay counties, which are north of Oklahoma City. It said, “Get inside now if you are in the path of this storm!”
The next post, made at 10:05 p.m., said the storms were over, but warned of a storm moving across north Texas that could affect parts of south central Oklahoma.
At 10:24 p.m., the Fort Worth weather service posted a message telling people in Era and Valley View that they were in the straight path of a possible tornado and should get inside right away. The Forth Worth office kept posting notes and shelter warnings as the storm moved through until midnight. They also sent out a separate severe thunderstorm warning saying that “golf ball-sized hail” was possible.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma, weather service office warned on X of a dangerous storm that would be moving across the northeast of the state until 2 a.m. They also sent strong thunderstorm warnings to Hugo, Boswell, Fort Towson, Grainola, Foraker, and Herd.
The Norman office said that Saturday’s weather was like “a gasoline-soaked brush pile.” The weather service said that any storms that happen could be very dangerous, with big hail, strong winds, and even tornadoes.
The odds aren’t great for most of the games today, and there aren’t many storms. Still, I wouldn’t want to play with that match. “It only takes one storm to make a difference,” it said on Facebook.
In South Texas, where the heat index was expected to reach nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) in some places over the weekend, it was too hot, especially for May. The temperature will be lower, but still in the triple digits, but the humidity will make it feel even hotter.
A scientist with the National Weather Service named Zack Taylor said that the area is on the northern end of a heat dome that goes from Mexico to South America.
Taylor said that record high temperatures for late May are expected in Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, and San Antonio on Sunday, making it the hottest day of the week.
According to the weather service, 95 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) were recorded in Brownsville and Harlingen on May 25. These cities are close to the border between Texas and Mexico.
There were also red flag fire alerts in West Texas, all of New Mexico, and parts of Oklahoma, Arizona, and Colorado. The humidity was less than 10%, and wind gusts of up to 60 mph (97 kph) were seen.
“The high fire danger over a large area is caused by very dry air, warm temperatures, and strong winds,” Taylor said. “This can cause fires to spread quickly or get out of hand.”
In Rolla, North Dakota, which is about 10 miles (16 km) from the Canadian border, a few inches of snow fell Friday night and early Saturday morning.
There were a lot of storms in April and May, mostly in the Midwest. Storms are getting worse all over the world because of climate change.
There were the second most storms ever in April in the United States. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman says that the country is already 25% ahead of average for the number of twisters this year.
The town of Greenfield in Iowa was hit hard this week by a deadly storm. In other parts of the state, floods and wind damage were caused by other storms.
As the Memorial Day weekend goes on, the storm system that was causing the bad weather was expected to move east. This would bring rain that could delay the Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday in Indiana, as well as stronger storms in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky.
Forecasters say that North Carolina and Virginia will have a chance of bad weather on Monday.