Well-Placed Anger?

Mother Nature is pissed at Dallas: How about a billion dollar hail storm & anearthquake in a week?

In early Arpril, severe storms unleashed tornadoes across the Dallas area,causing nearly $400 million in damage.
Photo by Rondo Estrello
Dallas County saw hail as large as baseballs late Wednesday afternoon.
Photo by Rondo Estrello
Early estimates for damage have been as high as a whopping $2 billion.
Photo by Rondo Estrello
Meanwhile, just south of Fort Worth, a minor earthquake woke slumbering northTexans around 2:30 a.m. early Friday morning.
FOX 4 News
Seismic activity in the Fort Worth area has been on the rise in recent yearswith minor earthquakes occurring about twice a year.
NBC 5 News

For some reason Mother Nature is none too happy with the Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex, socking the region with two major events this week.

First a Wednesday hail storm unleashed baseball-sized hunks from the sky — and damage estimates from $400 million to a billion dollars. Then, a 3.1-magnatude earthquake hit early Friday morning.

It is the largest reported hail in Dallas County since the mid 1950s, with hunks of ice shattering windows and ripping through vegetation. The Art Deco marquee of the city's historic Lawndale Theater suffered serious damage and a number of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly were smashed at an exhibit of the artist's work at the Dallas Arboretum.

Baseball-sized hunks of ice shattered windows and ripped through vegetation.

"Our region sees about 20 severe thundersstorms a year," National Weather Service meteorologist Melissa Huffmann told CultureMap Friday. "Hail is always a possibility, depending on the strength of the wind and updrafts, and a good majority of these storms produce it."

Huffmann said the storm was mainly concentrated around the city of Dallas, where the hail could cause the most damage.

According to Reuters, the storm could reach an estimated $2 billion in insured losses, nearly four times the amount of record-breaking wreckage caused by Dallas-area tornadoes in early April. Luckily, no deaths or major injuries have been reported.

Just to add insult to injury, Fort Worth found its nearby suburbs slammed with a minor, but nevertheless surprising, earthquake at 2:33 a.m. Friday morning.

"This was a very small earthquake that might have been strong enough to knock items of a tall shelf," geophysicist John Belini from the U.S. Geological Survey told CultureMap. "Other than that, though, it was relatively weak and probably only lasted a few seconds." Again, no injuries were reported.

Belini said that, while seismic activity in the north Texas is minimal compared to Alaska and California, small earthquakes have occurred an average of two times a year in the past half decade. As of yet, no 21st-century quakes in the DFW region have reached higher than 3.3 on the Richter Scale.

While seismic activity in the north Texas is relatively minimal, small earthquakes have occurred an average of two times a year in the past half decade.

Nevertheless, concern continues to mount over the state's "fracking" industry, which injects chemicals deep into the ground to extract oil and natural gas. There are state impact reports noting that liquid chemicals produced during the fracking process in deep well injection can lubricate fault lines to set off occasional minor seismic activity, although no greater than a magnitude of 3.

Belini noted that many of the North Texas fault lines are small and still under-studied, adding that more research will need to be conducted to determine whether the uptick in activity is related to manmade drilling efforts.

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schools with high achievers

These 15 Houston K-8 schools rank among Texas' best for 2025

T.H. Rogers PTO/Facebook

Congratulations are in order for the Rams.

Several Houston elementary and middle schools are at the top of the class when it comes to educating and preparing the next generation for a successful life and career, according to U.S. News & World Report's just-released list of 2025 Elementary and Middle Schools Rankings.

One such school – T.H. Rogers School in Houston ISD – is the No. 8 best middle school in Texas for 2025.

U.S. News ranked over 79,000 public schools on the state and district level using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Schools were analyzed based on their students' proficiencies in mathematics and reading/language arts on state assessments, and tie-breakers were decided based on student-teacher ratios.

Texas' best middle schools for 2025
Three Houston middle schools achieved spots among the top 10 best Texas middle schools for 2025, according to U.S. News.

T.H. Rogers School has a total enrollment of 1,063 students, with 87 percent of the student population scoring "at or above the proficient level" in mathematics, and 90 percent proficiency in reading. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 17:1, with 62 full-time teachers.

T.H. Rogers School also topped the district-wide list as the No. 1 best middle school in HISD.

Houston Gateway Academy - Coral Campus also ranked among the statewide top 10, coming in at No. 9 with a total enrollment of 914 students. U.S. News says 82 percent of HGA students are proficient in math, and 80 percent are proficient in reading.

"Houston Gateway Academy - Coral Campus did better in math and better in reading in this metric compared with students across the state," U.S. News said in the school's profile. "In Texas, 51 percent of students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 41 percent tested at or above that level for math."

Right behind HGA to round out the top 10 best Texas middle schools is Houston ISD's Briarmeadow Charter School. This middle school has 600 students, 69 percent of which are proficient in math and 74 percent are proficient reading.

Briarmeadow's student-teacher ratio is 16:1, which is better than the district-wide student-teacher ratio, and it employs 38 full-time teachers.

U.S. News also ranked Briarmeadow as the second best middle school in Houston ISD.

Six additional Houston-area schools ranked among the top 25 best middle schools in Texas, including:

No. 18 – Cornerstone Academy, Spring Branch ISD
No. 19 – Mandarin Immersion Magnet School, Houston ISD
No. 21 – Smith Middle School, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
No. 22 – Seven Lakes Junior High, Katy ISD
No. 23 – Houston Gateway Academy
No. 25 – Beckendorff Junior High, Katy ISD

The best elementary schools in Texas
Jesus A. Kawas Elementary school in Laredo was crowned the No. 1 elementary school in Texas for 2025, while two Houston-area schools made it into the top 10.

Tomball ISD's Creekside Forest Elementary in The Woodlands is the No. 7 best elementary school statewide, boasting 656 students, 42 full-time teachers, and one full-time counselor. Students at this school, which U.S. News designates is situated in a "fringe rural setting," scored 90 percent efficiency in math and 94 percent efficiency in reading.

Following one spot behind Creekside Forest in the statewide ranking is Sugar Land's Commonwealth Elementary School in Fort Bend ISD, coming in at No. 8. Commonwealth has a student population of 954 with 55 full-time teachers, and two full-time counselors. The school's student-teacher ratio is 17:1, and 90 percent of students are proficient in math, and 94 percent in reading.

U.S. News says student success at Commonwealth is significantly higher than the rest of Fort Bend ISD.

"In Fort Bend Independent School District, 59 percent of students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 47 percent tested at or above that level for math," U.S. News said in Commonwealth's profile. "Commonwealth Elementary [also] did better in math and better in reading in this metric compared with students across the state."

Other Houston-area schools that were ranked among the 25 best in Texas are:

No. 13 – Bess Campbell Elementary, Sugar Land, Lamar CISD
No. 20 – West University Elementary, Houston ISD
No. 23 – T.H. Rogers School, Houston ISD
No. 25 – Griffin Elementary, Katy ISD

"The 2025 Best Elementary and Middle Schools rankings offer parents a way to evaluate how schools are providing a high-quality education and preparing students for future success," said LaMont Jones, Ed.D., the managing editor for Education at U.S. News. "The data empowers families and communities to advocate for their children’s education. Research continues to indicate that how students perform academically at these early grade levels is a big factor in their success in high school and beyond."

dallas fort worth schools rankings us news & world report

Well-Placed Anger?

Mother Nature is pissed at Dallas: How about a billion dollar hail storm & anearthquake in a week?

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schools with high achievers

These 15 Houston K-8 schools rank among Texas' best for 2025

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