Cedar Park, TX Tornado
Brian J. Donovan
I happened to be stuck at work when the radio reported a tornado in
Jerrel, Texas, about miles north of Austin. I got some weather info off
the web about the time the line of storms reached the Austin area. With
the reports of severe weather coming in, the streets filled in an
instant, and I joined the throng, inching my way northwest through
traffic.
I turned north onto Highway 183, headed toward Cedar Park, and saw a
small funnel cloud headed south across the road. About that time,
emergency vehicles of all types began to stream past. I started flipping
through the AM stations and got the report that a tornado had touched
down in Cedar Park not five to ten minutes before. I had barely missed
seeing it.
I turned around, and headed down 183 to 620, taking it south and
skirting the edge of the storm. Traffic was so slow that the I got
caught in some small hail and winds i would estimate in the 60-65 mph
range. I suspected abnd later had confirmed on the radio that the
rainfall was nearly 3" per hour. The weather deteriorated rapidly, with
the winds picking up even more and my chances of staying ahead of the
storm almost nil. I opted to wait the worst part out under an overpass
with about 30 other people.
As the storm passed over, there was alot of rotation and a possible
funnel cloud way off in the distance to the southwest. It was raining so
hard I could barely see it, an so I can't say with any surety if it was
there at all.
Upon returning to the house, I saw some footage of the Jerrel tornado.
Was anyone close by that thing? In the news footage it looked like there
were quite a few folks filming it. The news is calling it an F3 or maybe
F4.
The footage of the Cedar Park I barely missed showed a very thin
funnel. It did not look very powerful, though it did tear an Albertson's
in half. Fortunately, there were no deaths, and no severe injuries from
what I hear.
I'd love to hear some other reports on this storm.
Brian
Todd Flanagan
On Tue, 27 May 1997, Brian J. Donovan wrote:
> Fortunately, there were no deaths, and no severe injuries from
> what I hear.
Channel 28 here in Lubbock reported during the 10 pm news that up to 30
people were confirmed dead, with a possibility of others still not found
in the wreckage. I'm not sure if that was a combination of Jarrell *and*
Cedar Park, or just from Jarrell. In either case, it's horrible.
The video of that wedge crossing I-35 is amazing. Some of those cars out
there on that interstate looked doomed. The close up of the rope in Cedar
Park was quite interesting as well. It goes to show that even the small
rope-like tornadoes can be pretty mean.
I wasn't in Texas at the time, but apparently back in May of 1989 Jarrell
was hit by a tornado that killed one person and damaged or destroyed 35
or so homes. Eeesh, bad luck?
As much as like chasing and want to see more 'naders, I hope tomorrow's
slight risk out here doesn't yield anything that disastrous.
================================================ TTTTTTTTTTTT ====
= Todd Flanagan (m9...@ttacs.ttu.edu) TT TT TT =
= Atmospheric Science Group TT =
= Texas Tech University TTTTTTTT =
= Lubbock, Texas 79409-2101 T TT T =
= (806) 742-2905 TT =
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