The Texas Severe Storms Association (TESSA) and the National Weather Service will collaborate for the annual National Storm Conference on Saturday, March 13, in Colleyville, Texas to discuss a new Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) super tornado scenario. The outbreak would be the costliest tornado event in US history.

According to the scenario, the first major tornado will touch down near Forest Hill at 6:00 pm on April 2, 2010 and track northeast as a nearly 2-mile wide, violent-class EF5 tornado (winds over 200 mph) through the University of Texas at Arlington, Cowboys Stadium, Rangers Stadium, American Airlines and DFW Airport. A second and larger tornado will develop in Irving and track trough Carrolton and Frisco. Subsequent tornadoes will track through Addison, Plano, Allen, McKinney, Melissa and Anna.

The scenario is based on a real event that occurred in and near Greensburg, Kansas on May 4, 2007. North Texas planners, engineers, and meteorologists have taken the tornado tracks from that day and superimposed them on top of the DFW Metroplex.

Experts at the conference will discuss the impact the scenario will have on major structures, like Cowboys Stadium, and on citizens in the path of the tornadoes. "We will examine in detail the havoc this storm will cause and what we can do now to mitigate those impacts," said TESSA chairman Martin Lisius. "The harsh reality is that large, long-track violent tornadoes tracking across the heart of the Metroplex would be the equivalent of Katrina on a tornado scale. This would be a worse case scenario," he said.

In addition to the DFW super tornado scenario, the conference will present the 6th annual Super Storm Spotter training session, the most advanced spotter training in the nation. North Texas is home to one of the best-trained storm spotter groups in the US.

The National Storm Conference is expected to draw over 400 attendees, including storm spotters, storm chasers, emergency managers, forecasters, and researchers from across the US. The all-day conference is free and open to the public and will begin at 9:00 am at Colleyville Center in Colleyville, TX.

The Texas Severe Storms Association (TESSA) is a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization dedicated to severe weather education. The group was founded in 1993 and is based in Arlington, Texas. Details about the conference can be found at the association's web site http://www.tessa.org

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