At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field, hundreds of flights were canceled, leaving some passengers with time to kill at the airport.
Colleges and universities canceled afternoon classes, telling students to stay inside where it was safe.
And then, after all that, not much happened.
Although the DFW area did see some strong, damaging winds Wednesday night, most of the mayhem that forecasters predicted didn't materialize, said Jason Dunn, a forecaster with the National Weather Service's Fort Worth forecast office.
On Wednesday, conditions looked ripe for large, damaging hail, Dunn said. Several large, isolated storms were moving into the area, which typically spells hailstorms, he said. But chances for hail began to drop through the evening, as those storms merged into a single line, which generally produces strong winds but no hail, he said.
"To get large hail, you typically need big storms by themselves with very, very large updrafts that can hold big chunks of ice up for a long time," Dunn said.
Some wind damage was reported across the area, Dunn said, and a 74 mph gust of wind was recorded at Denton Enterprise Airport.
At least one TV meteorologist took the situation in stride.
Hey folks. We had some big hail in NTX...but not where most people live. And it wasn't as bad as expected (although the timing was what we expected...no apologies to those who expected it EARLIER and cancelled things!)
— Evan Andrews (@EvanAndrewsFox4) April 18, 2019
So, yes...we blew it and we do apologize... Sincerely, yours. pic.twitter.com/zVWJnSLoiR
