Weather News

Violent storms rip across Dallas downing trees and knocking out power

A violent storm swept through Dallas on May 28.

dallas.culturemap.com

Strong storms with damaging winds and hail pummeled north Texas on May 28, with widespread power outages reported Dallas and Fort Worth, where an oppressive, early-season heat wave added to the misery.

Nearly 800,000 customers lacked electricity Tuesday, including close to 390,000 in Dallas County, according to PowerOutage.us.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a disaster declaration, stating that it could be days until power is restored for a significant amount of Oncor customers.

"As the current estimate is that this will be a multi day power outage for a significant number of Oncor customers, I have instructed the civil Dallas DA to prepare a declaration of disaster for my signature," Jenkins tweeted.

Oncor said it has crews responding to outages but did not give an estimate for when power is expected to be restored.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport recorded a wind gust of 77 mph early Tuesday as power outages in the region started to climb. Power went out at about 6 am.

East Dallas downed trees Two downed Bradford pear trees off Gus Thomasson Road in Casa View.Teresa Gubbins

The east side of Dallas was especially hard hit, but trees, fences, and even roofs were damaged in neighborhoods from downtown to North Dallas to Irving, where residents reported 90 mph winds.

Greenville Avenue still had power but residential neighborhoods east of Greenville Avenue did not. Every coffeehouse, from the White Rock Coffee on Northwest Highway to the Starbucks on Greenville Ave to Well Grounded on Garland Road was jammed.

The storm in Dallas followed a May 25 tornado that swept through Collin County, hitting towns such as Celina and Valley View.

Late May is the peak of tornado season, but the recent storms have been exceptionally violent, producing very strong tornadoes, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University.

“Over the weekend, we’ve had a lot of hot and humid air, a lot of gasoline, a lot of fuel for these storms. And we’ve had a really strong jet stream as well. That jet stream has been aiding in providing the wind shear necessary for these types of tornadoes,” Gensini said.

Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, said a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is to blame for the string of tornadoes over the past two months. That air is at the northern edge of a heat dome bringing temperatures typically seen at the height of summer to late May.

weather

Legislative news

Texas governor intercedes with last-minute save on sales of THC

The THC limit in medical cannabis products is also increasing.

Photo courtesy of TOCC

The Texas cannabis industry is safe.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill Sunday to ban all THC consumables, allowing the booming market flush with THC-infused vapes, gummies and other products to continue to be sold across the state.

Abbott, a Republican, waited until the final moment to veto the bill in what would have been one of the most restrictive THC bans in the country and a significant blow to the state’s billion-dollar industry.

The law would have made it a misdemeanor to own, manufacture, or sell consumable THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, products and was the latest push by states to regulate THC after a 2018 federal law allowed states to regulate hemp, a similar plant to marijuana that can be synthetically processed to produce THC, the compound giving marijuana its psychoactive properties.

Loopholes in existing law have allowed many THC-infused goods to enter the market across the country, including states with strict marijuana laws.

Texas has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the country, prohibiting all recreational use and providing a limited medical marijuana program. The consumables market has allowed residents to legally access goods giving a similar high to marijuana.

Republican lawmakers have criticized the products as dangerous due to a lack of federal oversight in how the goods are manufactured. Texas’ ban is one of the more far-reaching among states that have taken similar steps. Several states, including California, have imposed age limits and restrictions on the potency of THC products.

Critics of the Texas bill say it allows people who cannot access marijuana through the state’s medical marijuana program to acquire goods that can provide a similar relief. Many retailers across the state also pointed to the thousands of jobs and millions in revenue the industry brings each year.

Last year, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have put age restrictions on THC consumables, claiming it would hurt small businesses.

cannabis politics