Tornado sets down in Seabrook! (Fort Worth, Pasadena: apartment, townhomes, movies)

[jmarkey]

Uh-Oh. Maybe it wasn't the chimney after all. But I'll tell ya, that noise stopped me in my tracks.

At the same time my husband was yelling for me to come out to the garage and look at the storm (we're shameless storm watchers). It was FIERCE! When I told him this morning a tornado had touched down he said he wasn't surprised, as he was starting to worry about a tornado at that point.

I'd been keeping an eye on the weather online during the storm, to see if they upgraded to a tornado warning. As far as I know it never got past a watch. (Do I have that right? First watch, then warning?)

I'm glad no one was hurt. My God, those poor people still rebuilding after Ike. What a mess.

[latetotheparty]

my friends and i were traveling from houston to san antonio that day and had to pull off the road in schulenberg because the wind and rain were so bad.... plus the black sky with hints of green.......

was this the same storm system??

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by texas7

I work in a hi-rise downtown and several years ago we had a tornado not touch down but brush the tops of the bldgs. and knocked a bunch of windows out of a neighboring bldg. and a glass door in ours and I'll never forget the weird dark green of the sky and the rattling of the windows. We didn't hear a train but I think that is because it never touched the ground - just dipped down skimming those bldgs.

Ooooh, I remember that one. Went right over my apartment and did some damage to apartments in Montrose (off of Westmoreland just N of Alabama) before heading into downtown. It was flooding downtown that day too.

[ShelbyGirl1]

Originally Posted by jmarkey

Uh-Oh. Maybe it wasn't the chimney after all. But I'll tell ya, that noise stopped me in my tracks.

At the same time my husband was yelling for me to come out to the garage and look at the storm (we're shameless storm watchers). It was FIERCE! When I told him this morning a tornado had touched down he said he wasn't surprised, as he was starting to worry about a tornado at that point.

I'd been keeping an eye on the weather online during the storm, to see if they upgraded to a tornado warning. As far as I know it never got past a watch. (Do I have that right? First watch, then warning?)

I'm glad no one was hurt. My God, those poor people still rebuilding after Ike. What a mess.

Correct...Watch: is conditions are favorable
Warning: one has been sited
I have my comp set for all kinds of weather alerts from the Weather Channel and we saw the "watch", but never received the "warning".

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by texas7

The Houston area in general sort of scores high on the incidences of tornadic activity - not sure why though.

Does it also hit Houston itself at times? How far is Seabrook from Houston's Metro area?

I didn't think tornados traditionally hit population centers...seem so rural to me for some reason. In addition, isn't Houston close enough to the coast to not have hurricanes?

Sorry, I am not that informed about tornados, but just always imagined them in the rural heartland areas away from coasts. Just curious about them though

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Does it also hit Houston itself at times? How far is Seabrook from Houston's Metro area?

I didn't think tornados traditionally hit population centers...seem so rural to me for some reason. In addition, isn't Houston close enough to the coast to not have hurricanes?

Sorry, I am not that informed about tornados, but just always imagined them in the rural heartland areas away from coasts. Just curious about them though

Houston itself and its suburbs have experienced lots of tornados over time. Luckily for us, they are generally not the major kind but do a little damage here and there. There are of course exceptions, but the last major tornado hit Channelview area a number of years ago. We also get downbursts which can be as destructive as a tornado.

Houston, being only a little off the coast definitely experiences hurricanes as Ike proved last year (and that was just a Cat 2). Most of Houston is not subject to tidal surge (except the ship channel area and east side bayous) but it's suburbs certainly are. Houston can and has on numerous occassions dealt with Hurricane and Tropical Storm force winds which is not fun at all. Houston is part of the Gulf Coast and has typical problems with flooding.

[jluke65780]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Does it also hit Houston itself at times? How far is Seabrook from Houston's Metro area?

I didn't think tornados traditionally hit population centers...seem so rural to me for some reason. In addition, isn't Houston close enough to the coast to not have hurricanes?

Sorry, I am not that informed about tornados, but just always imagined them in the rural heartland areas away from coasts. Just curious about them though

Tornadoes can hit any place, Chicago supposedly gets lots of them as well.

[ShelbyGirl1]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

Tornadoes can hit any place, Chicago supposedly gets lots of them as well.

Correct. Tornados don't take into account rural vs highly populated.

Distance from Seabrook to Downtown Houston is maybe 60 miles? It may be alittle less.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

Tornadoes can hit any place, Chicago supposedly gets lots of them as well.

Chicagoland does have its share of spring & summer thunderstorms. Few years ago a funnel cloud was sighted on the north side near Loyola university right on the lake. That debunked a myth about Lake Michigan eliminating the possibility of tornadoes. Last year during a Cubs night game there was a microburst that some mistook for a tornado. South side of Chicago had a tornado in 1967 with fatalaties. However most tornadoes happen in the suburbs outside the city proper. The southwest suburbs seem to have more frequent tornadoes.
Cities do get tornadoes, Fort Worth, Atlanta, Nashville and even Salt Lake City have had tornadoes.
I'm glad you are all OK. The thing that I like about riding out storms in Chi-town is almost all of us have basements. We can go in the basement family room and ride out the storm there instead of hunkering down in a closet or bathroom. Of course, "Our Spring" is always here today and gone tomorrow-it's a balmy 42 degrees outside right now. So right now I am envious of your weather (except the flash floods)

[tstone]

Originally Posted by ShelbyGirl1

Correct. Tornados don't take into account rural vs highly populated.

Distance from Seabrook to Downtown Houston is maybe 60 miles? It may be alittle less.

It's a lot less...

from: 77002 to: 77586 - Google Maps

Galveston is only 50 miles from downtown.

Glad to hear everything is ok, sorta. Things got dark as night & pretty windy near Ellington but no tornados. Our back yard turned into a marsh in some spots for awhile. I went out barefoot and the water came up about 2 inches above my ankle. Fortunately it drained overnight to the curbside via piping.