Has a hurricane ever hit Dallas-Fort Worth? A look at Texas weather history
Hurricanes have had a major impact on the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with heavy rainfall, strong winds, and even tornadoes over the years.
But has the Metroplex ever experienced a hurricane in full force?
National Weather Service data says not since 2005.
“We’re several 100 miles inland, so we typically only end up getting the leftovers from whatever coastal site is in Dallas,” said Hunter Reeves, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office. “Hurricanes need warm ocean water to keep going, and once they hit land, they really start to fall apart, so the impacts we end up getting are nothing higher than a tropical storm.”
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita became the exception when it made landfall east of the Texas border as a Category 5 storm on September 23, 2005.
Wind gusts reached 40 to 50 mph in the Metroplex and gusts were near 60 mph in Dallas.
Rita became one of the most intense hurricanes ever to form in the Atlantic and caused one of the largest evacuations in history.
A reported 23 nursing home patients died in a bus accident near Dallas as a result of Hurricane Rita evacuation efforts. The storm also caused traffic jams, heat exhaustion, and gas shortages for Dallas residents.
Hurricane Ike
On September 13, 2008 at 2 a.m., Ike, a Category 2 hurricane, made landfall on the Texas coast close to Galveston that resulted in 10.8 feet of storm surge and 109 mph winds.
With estimates exceeding 17 feet, Bolivar Peninsula had the highest storm surge. There were storm surges up to 12 feet in places like Eagle Point and Sabine Pass North.
Ike then headed north toward East Texas and continued to have hurricane-force winds before weakening to a tropical storm.
Up to 49 deaths in Texas were indirectly caused by Ike, and 10 deaths were caused directly, according to the National Library of Public Medicine. In total, there was also damage from the storm throughout parts of the United States that caused estimated damages of $37.5 billion.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 2:53 PM.