What's the most impressive storm you recall? (Houston, San Antonio: house, neighborhoods)

[Komeht]

Three standouts for me:

1. Jarrell tornado. Was in Austin but the sky turned otherworldly. We turned on the TVs in the office to see the most massive deep purple mass on the radar I've ever seen or ever hope to see again marching right down I-35. That storm spawned a bunch of tornados just west of I-35, not just Jarrell. And then the tornado itself that wiped out Jarrell was massive beyond comprehension - took everything in its path right down to the dirt. Unbelievable.

2. I think the it was the next year we got the October floods with two hurricanes feeding into central Texas that caused the most unbelievable rain bomb I think I've ever seen, almost 2 feet in a single day - was in San Antonio for this one.

3. Memorial Day flood - long time ago and just a kid. What I remember most is it was already quite wet leading into the flood itself. It wasn't very stormy as I recall, just monsoonal, the rain came down so think and so heavy you couldn't see 100 feet in the distance. The car dealerships on 6th and Lamar ended up with a lot of their inventory in Shoal Creek. One of the few times I've seen Lamar Blvd underwater.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by Komeht

Three standouts for me:

1. Jarrell tornado. Was in Austin but the sky turned otherworldly. We turned on the TVs in the office to see the most massive deep purple mass on the radar I've ever seen or ever hope to see again marching right down I-35. That storm spawned a bunch of tornados just west of I-35, not just Jarrell. And then the tornado itself that wiped out Jarrell was massive beyond comprehension - took everything in its path right down to the dirt. Unbelievable.

2. I think the it was the next year we got the October floods with two hurricanes feeding into central Texas that caused the most unbelievable rain bomb I think I've ever seen, almost 2 feet in a single day - was in San Antonio for this one.

3. Memorial Day flood - long time ago and just a kid. What I remember most is it was already quite wet leading into the flood itself. It wasn't very stormy as I recall, just monsoonal, the rain came down so think and so heavy you couldn't see 100 feet in the distance. The car dealerships on 6th and Lamar ended up with a lot of their inventory in Shoal Creek. One of the few times I've seen Lamar Blvd underwater.

Jarrell was an F5 tornado....flattened everything in it's path.

The "October floods" were in 1998. (I was in NB). 27" in 24 hours (I think). It was nuts, imagine the hardest rain you ever saw falling.....& imagine it falling for 8 straight hours. Caused by an Gulf storm (hurricane?), colliding with a Pacific storm coming over the mountains of mexico which both collided with an early cool/cold front from Canada. & you're right...it was a "rain bomb". Not sure how bad it was in Austin, but NB (& SA) were hammered.

[TexasHorseLady]

The Jarrell tornado, hands down. Before that, I didn't worry much about tornadoes. After that, we got a storm shelter. Living here, seeing up close and personal "wiped clean by the wrath of God". (No other term for it fits, and I didn't really understand what that phrase meant until I saw the aftermath.)

The Memorial Day floods, watching the pavement in front of our house in Highland Park being stripped up by the water and go tumbling down the street.

The 2007 rain that dropped 19 inches on Marble Falls (and 9" upstream from us, resulting in photos of my husband canoeing in the front yard).

Canyon Lake flood event of 2002. We weren't there, but lifelong friends had a house just below the dam (but 25 or so feet up on a cliff overlooking the river) and we went and helped them deal with that aftermath of their house flooding to the ceiling - fortunately it was a stone, not stone veneer, house.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by hound 109

Jarrell was an F5 tornado....flattened everything in it's path.

The "October floods" were in 1998. (I was in NB). 27" in 24 hours (I think). It was nuts, imagine the hardest rain you ever saw falling.....& imagine it falling for 8 straight hours. Caused by an Gulf storm (hurricane?), colliding with a Pacific storm coming over the mountains of mexico which both collided with an early cool/cold front from Canada. & you're right...it was a "rain bomb". Not sure how bad it was in Austin, but NB (& SA) were hammered.

Same two for me. The day of the Jarrell tornado, I was working in an office in North Austin. I have never seen such an ominous sky.

I was living in San Marcos during the 1998 flood. We got well over 20" of rain in 24 hours. I have never seen anything like it. We were fairly elevated, but in some areas water rose as much as a foot every 10 minutes. By the time people gathered their kids and pets, they were already stranded. When the water receded, we walked/drove around and couldn't believe what we saw - trees uprooted, dumpsters that had floated hundreds of yards and then dropped in the middle of the street. It was crazy.

[centralaustinite]

Yes. I agree. The Jarrell tornado and the October 1998 storms. Then maybe last years Halloween flooding.

[RoadWarrior12]

I was away at school for the Jarrell tornado, but I've seen one of those F5's from a too close for comfort distance. No way I'd forget that.

The '98 rains were crazy, and I was actually out in Marble Falls for the rain bomb a few years ago - those seemed about the same. I guess once you hit 10" of rain in a few hours, it's all the same.

Those are the ones that stick out for Austin, but I was in Houston for Ike - that's unlike anything we've seen here.

[petro]

There was a hail storm in May 2008 that broke all the windows on the north side of my house and took down trees all over the neighborhood.

[ImOnFiya]

Jarrell tornado. I was at Congress & 5th Sts. To the north, the clouds looked like it was literally pitch black. Then, the wind and hail came..very surprised when I heard about the KLBJ radio tower falling near 9th & Lamar. The sky remained electrified with cloud to ground lightning up to 3 hours after the storm passed.

[df175]

Originally Posted by petro

There was a hail storm in May 2008 that broke all the windows on the north side of my house and took down trees all over the neighborhood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPpnSKCcsWs

[petro]

Originally Posted by df175

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPpnSKCcsWs

Yep, that's the one! I always thought it was a tornado, but didn't know it was confirmed. Downtown and the central neighborhoods were a complete mess.