"They Will Write Stories About This": The Wichita Falls–Azle Supercell That Came an Eyelash from Fort Worth, April 25, 2026

A long-track supercell thunderstorm developed across North Texas on the evening of Saturday, April 25, 2026, tracking southeast from the Wichita Falls area through Jack, Wise, and Parker counties before reaching the western edge of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The National Weather Service issued multiple Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) tornado warnings during the event — including one centered on Azle, Texas, in northwestern Tarrant County — as radar repeatedly showed strong low-level rotation embedded in the storm.

The most significant confirmed damage of the night came earlier in the storm's life cycle, when a tornado struck Runaway Bay in Wise County around 9 p.m. CDT, destroying at least one home and heavily damaging multiple others along Cumberland Trail and Overland Trail on the west side of town. By the time the supercell reached the Fort Worth suburbs, the rotation had begun to lose organization and the Azle warning was eventually allowed to expire without a confirmed metro touchdown — though spotters reported bright power flashes northwest of Fort Worth as the storm passed by infrastructure.

The supercell first organized on the western edge of North Texas late Saturday afternoon, with the National Weather Service issuing a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Wichita Falls until 6:30 p.m. CDT as the storm matured. From there, the storm tracked southeast at roughly 20–25 mph, repeatedly cycling through tornadic phases as it crossed the Red River basin and entered Jack, Montague, and Wise counties.

WFAA Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus issued a series of escalating tornado warnings throughout the evening — first for Jack and Montague counties (covering Bowie), then expanding to Jack, Parker, and Wise counties as the storm intensified. By 8:37 p.m. CDT, Delkus had issued an updated tornado warning for those three counties through 9:15 p.m. CDT. Around the same time, the NWS Fort Worth office had a separate PDS tornado warning active for Clay County near Windthorst and Scotland.

A broader Tornado Watch (Watch 144) covered 18 North Texas counties — including Parker and Tarrant — until 11 p.m. CDT, and was later replaced by Tornado Watch 148 in the early hours of April 26 as the threat continued to evolve.

Shortly after 9 p.m. CDT, a tornado touched down in Runaway Bay, a small lake community on Lake Bridgeport in Wise County roughly 50 miles northwest of Fort Worth. According to Fox 4 News in Dallas–Fort Worth, the Wise County Messenger, and CBS Texas, at least one home was completely destroyed and multiple other homes were heavily damaged in the area of Cumberland Trail and Overland Trail on the west side of town.

First responders reported that one structure had completely collapsed with people inside and that "debris is everywhere." Injuries were reported but a casualty count was not available at the time of publication. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning that included Runaway Bay, Agnes and Vineyard until 9:15 p.m. CDT, confirming the touchdown via radar signature and ground reports.

Wise County took the brunt of the power-grid impact tonight, with thousands of customers losing electricity as the storm core snapped poles and downed lines. The same supercell also produced a separate confirmed tornado earlier in the evening near Archer City, captured on cellphone video by local resident Klonie Berend.

As the supercell continued southeast, the rotation re-organized and a new PDS Tornado Warning was issued for Azle, Texas in northwestern Tarrant County, with the storm moving toward the western edge of the Fort Worth metro at roughly 25 mph. Residents in White Settlement, Lake Worth, Azle, and Benbrook were urged to take cover immediately. At 10:14 p.m. CDT, NWS confirmed the rotation was located near Azle and tracking southeast.

The storm also produced extreme straight-line winds along its path. Springtown, Texas — about 12 miles west of Azle — recorded a 89 mph wind gust. The NWS warned of baseball-sized hail (up to 2.75 inches in diameter), damaging winds capable of leveling mobile homes, extensive tree damage, and "considerable damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles." DFW International Airport issued a ground stop until 10:30 p.m. ET (9:30 p.m. CDT) as the storms approached the metro.

As the storm closed on the western edge of Fort Worth, observers reported bright power flashes northwest of the city as the rotating cell impacted local infrastructure. To viewers watching live coverage, those flashes resembled distant explosions in the night sky — a recurring visual signature of severe storms striking transformers and substations.

Separately, Saginaw Texas News reported storm damage at the Eagle Mountain Lake marina, confirming additional impact in the lake-area corridor between Azle and Fort Worth proper.

By the time the supercell reached the Fort Worth city limits, the rotation had lost organization and the Azle PDS Tornado Warning was eventually allowed to expire. There has been no confirmed tornado touchdown inside the Fort Worth city limits at the time of publication, and TKC Group has not yet confirmed any non-storm-related industrial incident along the storm corridor — though this article will be updated if the National Weather Service damage survey or additional reporting changes that picture.

By the time Ryan Hall delivered his "seven hours" line on the live stream, the supercell had already cycled through tornadic phases over multiple counties — initiating west of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon, dropping the confirmed Runaway Bay tornado around 9 p.m. CDT, drawing the Azle PDS warning around 10:14 p.m. CDT, and continuing to produce damaging hail and wind well past midnight. Long-track supercells of this duration are uncommon even in peak Texas tornado season, which typically runs from late April through May. Most tornado-producing storms cycle for one to two hours before losing organization; this one sustained tornadic potential across most of the evening into the early hours of April 26.

A new Tornado Watch (Watch 148) was issued at 3:45 a.m. CDT on April 26 covering 15 North Texas counties — including Parker and Tarrant — to address continued threats from the same overall system as it pushed further east. The DFW corridor remained under elevated severe-weather risk through Sunday morning.

The April 25 North Texas supercell was one of the most-watched live weather events of the year, with multiple independent meteorologists and broadcast outlets covering it in real time:

- [Ryan Hall, Y'all](https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHallYall) — independent severe-weather YouTube broadcaster. His live stream tracked the storm from initiation near Wichita Falls through the Azle cycle. Hall described the storm as "the biggest and most interesting" he had ever seen and told viewers to expect history to be written about it. - [WFAA Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus](https://www.wfaa.com/article/about-us/team-bios/pete-delkus/287-28580021) — issued a continuous series of tornado warnings throughout the evening across Jack, Wise, Parker, Montague, and Tarrant counties. - [Fox Weather](https://www.foxweather.com/live-news/live-updates-dangerous-storms-threaten-oklahoma-texas-with-intense-tornadoes-gigantic-hail) — ran a live blog covering the entire Texas / Oklahoma severe-weather event, including hourly updates on the DFW supercell. - [NBC 5 DFW](https://www.nbcdfw.com/) — live broadcast coverage with traffic-camera feeds along the storm corridor. - [CBS Texas](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/runaway-bay-homes-destroyed-by-twister/) — first-on-scene reporting from Runaway Bay, including footage of the destroyed Cumberland Trail home. - [Wise County Messenger](https://www.wcmessenger.com/articles/possible-tornado-touches-down-in-runaway-bay-major-damage-reported/) — local print coverage of the Runaway Bay touchdown and damage.

NWS storm survey teams from the Fort Worth/Dallas (FWD) office are expected to be on the ground in Wise County and along the storm corridor beginning Sunday morning, April 26. Those surveys will:

1. Confirm the number of distinct tornadoes produced by the supercell (Runaway Bay touchdown is confirmed; Archer City and other reports are still being verified). 2. Assign Enhanced Fujita (EF) ratings based on observed damage. 3. Produce path-length and width measurements for each tornado. 4. Catalog the number of structures damaged or destroyed at each touchdown point.

This article will be updated as official survey results are released. For the most current Local Storm Reports, see the SPC Storm Reports page. Live tornado-watch and warning updates are available from the NWS Fort Worth/Dallas office and the NWS Norman office for the Wichita Falls portion of the corridor.

If you live along the path and have damage to report, the NWS asks that you submit it through the SPC public storm-report form or through your local emergency management office.