Thunderstorm Wind — Van Zandt, Texas

2024-06-03 · near Ben Wheeler, Van Zandt, Texas

Event narrative

A survey team confirmed a swath of straight-line wind damage likely associated with the rear flank downdraft of a previously tornadic supercell thunderstorm. A broad area of tree damage was observed between Ben Wheeler and Edom, and also east of Edom along FM 279. The most significant damage was confined to FM 279 where many trees were uprooted, including a few large trees. This damage was consistent with 75-80 mph straight-line winds, though saturated soils were likely a contributing factor. Sporadic tree damage was also observed along State Highway 64. One fatality resulted from this thunderstorm when a tree fell into the roadway as a vehicle was traveling westbound on FM 279. The passenger of the vehicle was also injured and hospitalized. There was no discernible structural damage in the county from this event.

Wider weather episode

Upper level disturbances interacted with leftover surface outflow boundaries from nocturnal MCSs and allowed for scattered strong to severe storms across the region each afternoon from June 1st to June 3rd. A combination of hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding occurred, but an EF-U tornado also occurred in Henderson County on the 3rd. One life was lost June 3rd in Henderson County due to a falling tree in straight-line winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4237, -95.6768)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1195574. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.