A powerful band of thunderstorms threatening softball-sized hail, tornadoes and danger
ous winds are menacing Dallas and the US South, grounding hundreds of flights and knockin
g out power to thousands.
As of 3:45 p.m. local time, 278 flights were canceled at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport with dozens of others grounded in Chicago and Atlant
a as the storms send ripples through US air traffic, according to FlightAware, an airline tracking service.
Tornado watches stretch from northeast Texas to western Tennessee, and there are at least four reports of possible twisters moving across the region, according t
o the National Weather Service. In addition to powerful winds, there is a high risk of damaging and dangerous hail.
“With super cells everything is on the table, let’s be fair,” said Brian Hurley, a senior branch
forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. “The big concern is the hail of all things.”
Across the South and Midwest 111,650 homes and businesses were without power, according to PowerOutage.com
Last year, severe thunderstorms caused $68 billion in economic losses across the US, makin
g it the third costliest year on record, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Insu
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red losses reached $51 billion, which was the third year in a row they exceede
d $50 billion.
From 1980 to 2025, severe storms, which includes hail, winds and tornadoes, caused
$588.7 billion in damage across the US, second only to tropical storms and
hurricanes, according to Climate Central and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
Hurley said Tuesday’s storms were being egged on by an active subtropical jet stream, w
hich is causing high winds to race across the upper atmosphere and create wind shear nearer to the
surface. In addition to hail, tornadoes and wind, the storms can also cause flooding downpours.
