Analyzing Long-Lived Stationary Supercell Thunderstorm over North Texas! (credit: GOES-16)

#GOES16 1-min VIS near sunset provides great picture of storm top features for Texas tornado producer. #txwx From: https://t.co/eTy41Odxmg pic.twitter.com/iBZFJcMGNu

— Bill Line (@bill_line) April 15, 2017

This radar loop is approximately 5 hours long. It still does not contain the entire lifespan of the Dimmtt, Texas tornadic supercell. #txwx pic.twitter.com/sANSJWX6I6

— Andrew Pritchard (@skydrama) April 15, 2017

DISCUSSION: As of earlier in the evening hours on Friday, a very intense area of thunderstorms fired up across parts of northern Texas.  As this unfolded, the regional conditions remained relatively conducive for the rapid development of supercell thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes.  As the evening progressed, one particular thunderstorm continued to persist in its existence for several hours which has consequently led to incredibly heavy rainfall totals.  This supercell persisted as a result of the fact that the regional atmospheric environment was characterized by vertically-veering winds with height which allowed the supercell to persist for several hours.  Hence, the heavy rainfall, hail, cloud-to-ground lightning, and tornado threat persisted as well and made for a very dangerous night for many people living across northern Texas!

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©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz