Storm Report for Sunday, March 26, 2000
for Temple, Bell County, Texas
An active spring storm season continued for the Central Texas area as
another severe thunderstorm moved through southern Bell County Sunday
evening.
Around 4:15 p.m., the NWS released a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Central
Texas stating that there was a slight risk for severe thunderstorms until
midnight. Thunderstorms were expected to form along a dryline out west and
move across the area. Storms had just begun to form in Llano County about
70 miles to the SW. I decided to head in that direction at 4:30 p.m.
I headed west out of Belton on US 190 and arrived in Killeen at about 5:15
p.m. There was a lot of haze in the sky which made it hard to spot anything
but just as I got into Killeen I saw the top of a storm tower to the SW. I
headed south on Texas 195 towards Florence. The SW sky drew darker as I
approached the halfway point between Florence and Killeen (about 15 miles).
At about that time I spotted the leading edge of the storm approaching
from the west. This area has hilly terrain with a lot of trees so it was
difficult see exactly was going on to my west.
I continued traveling south on Texas 195 and arrived in Florence (5:30
p.m.) just ahead of the storm. There were some low hanging clouds but I
believe they were more scud than a wall cloud. I turned east in Florence
traveling along FM 487, traveling in the same direction and staying just
ahead of the storm. From this point on, the storm was chasing me. About 2
miles east of Florence, I turned NE on FM 2843 and headed toward Salado,
keeping the storm in sight to my west and northwest. There were still low
clouds along the leading edge of the storm but no signs of rotation noted.
I had gained enough on the storm that I was able to stop several times and
take photos.
I arrived in Salado just before 6:00 p.m. and headed north on Interstate 35
back toward Belton. Nothing had changed with the storm, it was still moving
NE with the low clouds but no rotation. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning for
Bell County had been issued at 5:47 p.m. I was about two miles north of
Salado when a ham operator about 2 miles behind me began reporting high
winds, heavy rain and golf ball hail. It then became obvious that I was not
going to be able get north of the storm so I pulled off the interstate at
the next exit and looked for a safe place to pull off the road.
Before I could get out of the truck to take one last photo, the storm hit
my location, shortly after 6 p.m. It began with high winds that I would
estimate at least 50 mph. I was parked next to a field of oats and it was
easy to tell that these were straight-lined winds as the entire field was
laid down to the NE. Shortly after the wind, a heavy rain began with
visibility reduced to less than 50 yards. Shortly thereafter, the hail
began. Most of the hail was quarter size with an occasional golf ball size.
The wind, rain and hail continued for about seven or eight minutes and
began to gradually slacken off. Another five minutes and it was over.
I continued on to the north along the interstate service road and came
across two cedar trees that had significant wind damage. I had heard ham
reports of damage in and around Salado so I turned around and went back but
was unable to locate anything. By the time I got back to Salado, the storm
had moved off to the NE about 15 miles. This allowed for a beautiful site
with the setting sun lighting the an awesome thunderstorm tower. The tower
seemed to have a halo around the top of it (in my opinion, not an anvil),
something that I don't recall seeing before, even in photographs.
The storm passed just south of my home, about 15 miles N of where I
observed the storm from . Peak wind gust was 28 mph at 6:15 p.m and there
was only a trace of rain.
Damage reports that came in later are as follows:
Youngsport - 1.5" hail reported by the EOC
Salado - 1.75" hail reported by the Sheriff's Department
Salado - EOC reported wind damage. 18-wheeler blown off IH35. Wind
estimated at 70 mph.
Heidenheimer - DPS reported wind damage to several homes.
Photos from the storm can be seen at
http://www.vvm.com/~rprcin/march26.htm
NWS statements regarding this storm can be found at
http://www.vvm.com/~rprcin/nws.htm
Ronnie
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Live Home Weather Station:
http://www.vvm.com/~rprcin/livewx.htm
My Photo Album:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=13364
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