[paulsy]

i live in nw austin, i watched a tornado form this morning. a powerful storm came through from dripping springs in the south, in a n/ne line through lago vista and upwards toward liberty hill. i was on a hill above lago vista. dark clouds moved rapidly from east to west, wind on the ground was sporadic and sheets of rain came and went with the gusts.

then about a mile from me a large rotating section of clouds entered the scene and moved north. the rotating area was maybe a mile and a half or two miles across. the clouds in it were rising and diving in strange ways, like on a roller coaster, not like the straight-line clouds pushing against it. i watched the mass move from the middle of the lake until it crossed over land. a minute or two later, in a valley no less, a funnel spilled out and touched down, i guess maybe 150 feet across as it descended, straight up and down (no "funnel" shape to it). the mother cloud(s) were i guess about a thousand feet above the ground. within 30 seconds a large dark wedge had formed around the tornado, maybe 150 yards across at the base. it moved up and over the hill (i didn't know tornados could form in valleys/climb hills) and within a few minutes it was still there but was hidden in heavy rain as it moved in the direction of liberty hill. there wasn't any population really where it touched down, i don't know if it cause any damage as it went along. based on its size and the way it was moving, i guesstimate it might have been an f2, maybe slightly larger. it had a trailer funnel cloud or two behind it.

right now we're still under tornado warnings in nw travis/sw williamson county, and it's raining/lightening heavily. a tornado has apparently touched down in south austin and in other areas south of the city, but there isn't much right now in the way of damage reports. lots of rain has falling, i'm guessing 5 or 6 inches in our area but this might not be exact. there've been a number of tornados today, and the rain/lightening is heavy. television (channel 8 especially, if you have cable, otherwise kvue 24) doing a good job of covering things. -paulsy

[Gracey]

Great report paulsy. I saw a lot of the phenomena you mention from my 12th floor view downtown. It's been a spectactular view, weather wise, most all afternoon. Town Lake (Colorado River) is rather high right now, but it's just become too dark to see. I'll send you a FReep mail.

[basil]

I live in Lakeway, so I was watching that storm from the other side of the lake, and it was pretty hairy! We were out on our deck watching the cloud formation, and prepared to run to our "storm cellar" if necessary. Did you see the water spout form?

It is now a few minutes before 6 PM. The sun came out for about 10 minutes, and now is covered by very black clouds. The radio just reported a tornado on the ground at HWY 183 and 360. I also heard that the community of Buda had a tornado on the ground earlier today, but haven't heard any reports of injuries or damage.

I've lived in Texas most of my long life, and have seen many bad storm systems come through--but at this moment, the sky looks scarier than I've seen in a very long time. I'm looking out the window right now at the very black clouds hanging low over the lake--not the kind of clouds you want to take your eyes off of.