2003 April Fools' Outbreak

The 2003 April Fools' Outbreak was a localized tornado outbreak in the U.S that primarily affected areas in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on April 1st, 2003. Many people ignored the warnings, believing they were an April Fools' Joke.

2003 April Fool's Outbreak
The Duncanville-Dallas Tornado as it crossed I-20
Formed	April 1, 2003
Dissipated	April 1, 2003
Tornadoes reported	21
Confirmed Tornadoes	19
Maximum Rated Tornado	F4
Deaths	24
Injuries	142
Damage	>1.62 Billion USD (estimated)

Meteorological Synopsis

A low pressure system and associated frontal boundaries tracked across the Southern Plains on April 1. The large-scale synoptics were marginal for tornadoes, hence only a slight risk of severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, with large hail the primary threat and tornadoes and damaging winds secondary threats.  As a result of the initially perceived low risk, only a severe thunderstorm watch was initially

Satellite imagery of the storm system on April 1st

issued for the region at 9:20 am CDT (1420 UTC). Once the small-scale synoptics became more conducive for tornado activity, the watch was upgraded to a tornado watch for North Texas at 12:10 pm CDT (1720 UTC). What was initially believed to be a wind and hail event from reliable models and forecast unexpectedly developed into a locally significant tornado outbreak as a result of changing mesoscale situations, concentrated on the heavily populated Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. That development was attributed to an outflow boundary from another area of storms farther north in Oklahoma that tracked southward across the Red River and into the Metroplex where it stalled just south of the Interstate 20 corridor in the southern suburbs, allowing discrete supercells to form along the boundary. The boundary increased low-level wind shear significantly due to easterly winds, allowing for tornadoes to develop. As a result, taking advantage of the highly unstable environment that became much more highly sheared than initially forecasted with high CAPE values, the storms became much more intense than forecasted and quickly became tornadic and intense, resulting in severe damage across the region in heavily populated areas. South of the boundary, shear was much more marginal and tornadoes did not develop. Once the cells tracked eastward towards Louisiana, the atmosphere was much more stable and the cells rapidly weakened.

Tornadoes

Out of the 21 tornadoes reported, 19 were confirmed.

Confirmed	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
19	8	3	5	2	1	0

List of Confirmed Tornadoes - April 1, 2003
F#	Location	County	Time CST	Path Length	Comments/ Damage
F1	Granbury	Hood	13:54-13:57	1.3 Miles	First tornado of the outbreak, caused minor damage to a subdivision in Northeastern Granbury.
F2	Cresson to Winscott	Hood, Tarrant	14:00-14:13	4.7 Miles	2 Deaths - Tornado hit a trailer park, killing two people. The tornado then damaged a lumber yard, injuring 5. The tornado then entered Winscott at F1 status, causing slight damage to a farm.
F0	Cleburne to SE of Keene	Johnson	14:12-14:13	.73 Miles	Brief tornado reported by Law Enforcement. Only caused Minimal Tree damage.
F3	Fort Worth to Haltom City	Tarrant	14:25- 14:37	10.7 Miles	3 Deaths - A violent tornado hit parts of Fort Worth and Haltom City. The tornado directly hit downtown Fort Worth at F3 strength, Heavily damaging skyscrapers and killed 3 people in Tarrant County College, which had substantial damage. In addition, 14 people were injured in Fort Worth by the tornado. The tornado Tracked into Haltom City, Injuring 17 and causing damage to a subdivision. The tornado dissipated over Diamond Oaks Country Club at 14:37 CST.
F0	Crowley	Tarrant	14:34-14:35	.6 Miles	A Fast moving tornado caused minimal damage to a Dollar General, before crossing into a wooded area, causing minor damage to trees.
F0	Venus to Midlothian	Johnson, Ellis	14:45-14:52	6.75 Miles	Small rope tornado caused Minimal Damage to a subdivision in Midlothian, injuring 1.
F3	Duncanville to 3 Miles SW of Rowlett	Dallas	15:01-15:22	26 Miles	12 Deaths - A violent Multi-vortex tornado hit parts of Duncanville and Southern Dallas. A large tornado was reported on the ground at 15:01 near Duncanville. The tornado Caused major damage to poor built structures in South Dallas, where all 12 Deaths happened. The tornado was found to have an area of F3 damage near South Dallas, where well-built houses had severe damage. The tornado dissipated 3 Miles SW of Rowlett, where F1 Damage was reported. The tornado Killed 12 people and injured 78, 64 of which were in Dallas. The tornado was the Deadliest of the Outbreak.
F2	Balch Springs to 1.5 Miles SSE of Mesquite	Dallas	15:18-15:20	2.3 Miles	1 Death - A brief tornado hit Balch Springs, killing one person when their vehicle was tossed off a road.
F4	Rockwall to Fate to Royse City	Rockwall	15:25-15:38	11.09 Miles	6 Deaths - Strongest single tornado of the outbreak. A strong cell dropped a waterspout Over Lake Ray Hubbard at 15:25, which would eventually track into Rockwall as a 3/4 mile wide wedge, destroying homes and causing major damages to businesses. All 6 deaths happened in Rockwall. The tornado completely obliterated Rockwall Municipal Airport, where several small planes were tossed and hangars were reduced to small debris. The tornado tracked into Fate, where it caused severe damage to Miss May Vernon Elementary School. In a twist of luck, classes were let out only hours before the tornado hit. The tornado weakened to F3 before hitting Royse City, causing severe damage to Downtown. The tornado then rapidly weakened before completely dissipating near Royse City High school.
F0	Kaufman to 4.8 Miles SW of Oak Ridge	Kaufman	15:42	.8 Miles	A brief tornado was observed over a field, Causing minor crop damage.
F2	Emhouse to Rice	Navarro	15:56-16:03	8.4 Miles	A Fast moving tornado injured 4 people in a Home Depot. Cars in the parking lot were tossed about.
F1	Greenville	Hunt	16:13-16:17	2.2 Miles	A tornado hit a car dealership, causing minor structural damage to the building. Cars outside of the building were moved slightly.
F0	Poetry	Kaufman	16:23-16:26	1.2 Miles	Small rope tornado hit a farm, causing minimal damage to a barn.
F0	Heath	Rockwall	16:38-16:40	1.08	A brief tornado caused slight damage to Rockwall-Heath High School before crossing into a neighborhood, causing slight roof damage.
F2	Canton to 3 miles SW of Fruitvale	Van Zandt	16:57-17:06	4.7 Miles	Large F2 tornado Caused Moderate damage to Cherry Creek park before damaging a postal office, injuring 3.
F1	Sulphur Springs to 8 miles SW of Dike	Hopkins	17:19-17:23	1.4 Miles	Fast Moving tornado caused slight damage to a subdivision. A weak tree collapsed onto a house, but nobody was injured or killed.
F0	Como	Hopkins	17:41-17:42	.4 Miles	Brief tornado was reported by a citizen. It caused Minimal damage to a house.
F2	Palmer to 9 miles South of Rosser	Ellis	18:04-18:16	5.1 Miles	Stovepipe tornado directly hit downtown Palmer, causing moderate damage to buildings. 4 People were injured when the roof of the shop they were riding out the storm in collapsed.
F0	Cumby	Hopkins	18:24-18:25	.6 Miles	Brief tornado caused damage to a trailer park.

== Aftermath

==

Fort Worth was the first city to declare itself a disaster zone, just hours after the tornado hit. On April 2, the National Guard came to the hardest hit areas to help with the recovery efforts. The Governor of Texas at the time, Rick Perry, made a statement about the outbreak. Since the outbreak, The hardest hit areas have rebuilt.