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San Marcos Tornado

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Yesterday around 8:20 pm we got a tornado warning. Meaning a tornado has been sighted. I won’t lie, it got pretty ugly. Hail the size of small apples hitting the house sideways. Oaks bending near horizontal. The storm roared there for a bit. The power cut off, and the house went pitch black.

But the storm passed, the power came back on, and this morning we went outside to assess the damage. We caught the very edge of the twister and were very lucky. About 300 yards from us, there are some very large downed trees, and our neighbor, who went out to check on his rental property this morning, says there is substantial damage at the outlet mall a couple of miles from us and the Stagecoach street has the tornado trail, a strip of ground where everything basically been pulverized.

So we are grateful to have come through. The metal roof came in handy.

Here is the gallery of the aftermath.

The second sample Unwelcome Mat has survived somehow.

It is a Texan tradition to grab the hail and take pictures, but the storm sounded like someone was shooting at the door. I checked through the small barred window in our door, and it looked like someone dumped several ice trays worth of ice on the front steps. So I didn’t risk life and limb take the pictures. I also didn’t go outside to see where the tornado was, heh. I took shelter instead.

Here is one I found after the storm had passed. I think it was mostly melted.

If you want to see pictures of some epic hail, here is a news article with a gallery from CBS Austin.

Here we go, we are okay, pets are okay, even my little bonsai trees are okay. We brought them in just as the storm started.

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Comments

  2. So glad to know y’all are alright. Those storms are no joke. What a way to stress test the unwelcome mat!

  4. Tornadoes are nothing to play around with!
    I’m just happy that science can give us a headsup, unlike earthquakes…

    • They let you know when conditions are favorable for tornadoes, but you don’t know there is one until it touches down. That may be on top of you or a few miles away, but there isn’t a lot of warning when there is an actual tornado. That’s why they try to get people to go to shelter when it’s possible, but most people (at least around me) seem to wait until it’s really there to go to shelter. Here in the country, there aren’t even sirens to let you know, like in town. Cell phones have really helped with notifications though!

  5. Been there, done that, still remember it vividly 50+ years later! Thank goodness the everyone, including the tiny trees, is safe.

  6. glad you are all ok.
    that’s a pretty big clean up to do.

    was that outdoor unwelcome mat made of coconut husk/fiber?

    • Yes. That’s the second prototype. We got two, one coconut, one polyester, to see what they will look like after a month of heavy use before we put them on sale.

      • Someone asked in the previous post “Any chance the mat can be super absorbent?” I guess now you can answer the question as to its absorbency.

      • You know now that the coconut fiber unwelcome mat survives tornados, hail, and rain.

        • Blessed by the Dark Lord of guarding against the terror of the void (winds) himself. Looks like a winner to me!

          Glad to know you’ve weathered the storm well.

  8. I’m so glad y’all are ok!!!

    Taking photos of the hail (and keeping it in the freezer) is a great way to show proof to the insurance company when you make a claim for roof damage.

    • When we were in Fort Worth our insurance company contracted with some third party adjusters. Those adjusters had risen up the “call first” list by finding ways to deny or down grade claims. They tried to insist that the Hail we got wasn’t large enough to justify climbing on the roof to look. Suggest you assess the damages to the window screens as well, even if the glass hasn’t broken. That can add up to thousands quickly. Delighted to hear the family all survived the ruckus.

  9. Ah, I see what happened here. The tornado came a blowing, reached the mat, realized it was unwelcome and retreated down Stage Coach.

    Fellow Horders – if you live in “tornado alley” be sure to invest in the “unwelcome” mat. 😉

  12. I’m so very glad you’re safe, but this former California girl says you cyan keep your twisters, thank you very much, I’ll take earthquakes any day.

    • +1 to all that, although where I live now isn’t built with earthquakes in mind, so I’d be more questionable of one here.

  16. Thank the gods. It was the unwelcome mat that protected you, I’m sure. 🙂

  18. Well, living both Hurricane and Tornado zones, I would say you were within the range of the “giant salad shooter” zone. A mess but not debilitating. Scary.

  19. Glad everyone is ok. There were tornados in SW Michigan where good friends live and my nieces and they all checked in ok, but spent some time in the basement. And the tornado siren went off where my husband lives and he didn’t even get any branches down but spent some time with his two cats stuffed in a single cat carrier and they are JUST recovering from their trama.

  21. Thank Heavens you are all O.K. We had one go through our town about 10 years ago and it took out communications and power. We had no idea how bad it was in the main part of town for hours. Relatives were trying to find out if we were still alive. All we kept hearing were constant emergency vehicle sirens for quite a while. I wondered if you were all o.k. when I saw the weather this week. Watch out for scam artists trying to profit on disasters.

  23. Scary! I live in wildfire, earthquake, mudslide land, and I’ve lived in hurricane land, but tornadoes have always terrified me the most.

    So glad you all came through it relatively okay.

  24. The storm was so wild….we were just sitting and waiting for hours trying to figure out if it was going to hit us. We ended up getting nothing up in CP…barely even rain. Texas springs are getting so crazy. I’m glad everyone is safe. <3

  25. Glad to know ya’ll are okay.
    Tornados are scary, though I haven’t been in the path of one (in Oklahoma City) since 1970 or so. I was awake when it went over, but had no idea what it was.
    If I had realized, I would have been upset, but being ignorant I calmed the puppies down and went to sleep.
    I am in Houston now and I will be just as happy if that is the last time I have a “close encounter” with a twister. Hurricanes I understand and can manage, but not tornadoes.
    There’s always a down side to a location…

    • Hurricanes at least can be spotted days away. Tornadoes are a totally chaotic.

  26. Glad everyone is ok from last night’s storm. It’s crazy that one area is fine, but not far away, it’s devastated.

    DFW was under a tornado watch until 9 pm last night. What was really interesting was watching the radar as the storms came close to the area and the split into a northern and southern storm.

    • Same here. We live in Round Rock and an hour before the storm came through, we were going to be in the middle of it. Then before we know it, the storm split to the north and south and ignore us. We just got some rain and lots of wind.

  27. Happy to hear you are all ok! Looks like maybe you have some firewood to start the winter with already. Maybe you could hang the UNWELCOME mat in the trees so the next nasty wind storm knows it really isn’t wanted?

  31. I’m so pleased Team Andrews is ok. And hope others are too. Not being from/an American, are there more tornadoes in the states this year? And in places that don’t generally have them? Different time of year too? Every few days I feel I’m reading about tornadoes in the states at the moment. Also do you have a basement you hide in?

  32. Glad to hear you’re all OK, no evil witches under the house or trees down on top of it. I grew up in IL, aka Tornado Alley North. Those things scare the crap out of me.

  33. Phew!

    I have been watching disaster videos to get me through a really rough patch and I’ve watched a bunch of tornado videos. I am glad everyone is okay and it missed you!

  34. This is why I really want a house with a basement. They’re thin on the ground around here. My current one does have a root cellar, but the interior trapdoor access, which is in the center hallway (floorpan is basically shotgun shack) was nailed shut years before I bought it. Exterior entry is not ideal as you have to unlock it first. For someone who grew up with basements standard, and retreated to them in threatening weather on multiple occasions, this is a bit nerve-racking.

    • Might want to get someone in to fix it so you can get into the root cellar more easily. Also it might make it easier to stock and keep clean and vermin free! New access hatch, safe ladder or stairs, emergency lighting, radio, bottled water, hand saw,good work gloves, emergency kit stuff. Better to have stuff and not need it than the other way around!

      • Also bicycle helmets, mattress, or pillows to keep your head safe. That I heard on the Weather Channel.

        Keep boots or closed toe shoes near by for your feet.

        • Thanks you guys for the suggestions! It’s something I’ve certainly been mulling over since buying the place.

  35. So glad you’re OK. We’ve had a record number of tornados in Ohio this year, but this one was the first that actually drove home the risk to me. We had 65 mph winds on the ground, but they were clocking 150 mph winds in rotation above in the clouds. It’s a crapshoot if, where, and when they would land and if they do land, how long they’ll stay and move in a path of destruction. So you’re watching the weatherman in terror, waiting for the box on their little map to turn purple, which means one has been sighted on land.

    When I was young, one landed but our house was in the eye. The sky was an almost indescribable yellow color and the silence was disturbing. You could feel the pressure in the air and my mother made us frantically race around the house and open the windows thinking it would equalize it. Don’t know if that’s just one of those urban (well, non-urban) myths or not.

  36. So glad to learn you all are ok

    Best wishes to your neighbors too, in the hope all are insured or can get help otherwise

  37. Very glad you are safe. South Alabama had our turn last night,we and our animal are all safe. Near missed are scarry.

  38. So glad you are all safe!! Crazy weather seems to be the new spring model everywhere! Here’s to calmer days and weeks ahead!

  41. So glad you are all ok, including the bonsai. Very scary stuff.

    Texas does everything big, that hail is enormous!!!

  42. So happy you were spared the worst of the storm. We don’t get tornados often in Maryland, but they are scary when they happen.

  46. Yikes! Tornadoes are the scariest weather! I’ll stick with earthquakes thank you. Glad you’re all ok.

    Feliz Dia De Las Madres.

  49. thank goodness you and yours are all right, unharmed and mostly escaped serious damage. I hope no one was driving and killed from that size hail I suspect it would go straight through a windshield.

    in northern BC Canada where I live I remember we had a huge size hail storm in the summer when I was a kid and the hell was bigger than ice cubes from ice cubes from the old style large ice cube trays 2 in across. I thought that was impressive what you got blows my mind.

    again I am so very very grateful you are all safe. thank you for the personal update

  50. Glad you’re all ok.💗 being in Massachusetts we have a mostly standard time with weather and geology which I appreciate. It’s just cold for a long time.

    I think those unwelcome mats are going to sell out fast. You guys are so great for testing them out!!

  52. Glad you’re okay. With any hailstones that size, there could have been substantially more damage. Happy you escaped it.

    (spoken from years of experience in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle)

  56. Well, that’s a much more ‘exciting’ start to the weekend than I am sure you wanted or needed! 😳 I’m so glad to hear everyone at HA is fine and that it seems like your damage wasn’t too bad. Here’s wishing you calm, nice weather for the rest of the weekend!💕💕💕

  58. Glad all the residents of House Andrews are okay. Material things can be replaced. People and furbabies can’t.

  60. Glad you all made it through alright. My friend in Wimberley and her neighbors around Mt Baldy all got roof damage (shingles) and downed limbs. I am up by Hamilton Pool Park, and just enjoyed a good thunderstorm. Shows how targeted weather can be. (Who pissed off who? 😉)

  64. So glad you and your family are OK. Tornadoes are the worst! Hail that big is scary. We always had hail in summer storms in MA when I was a kid but it was an inch at the largest. Those pictures of the baseball size hail are wild!

  67. Wow, so glad you, your pets (& your bonsai trees) are ok! Tornadoes sure are scary, I know that from personal experience. I love getting your emails, & look forward to them each week. Take care, and hope the clean up is not too expensive.

  68. I’m glad the tornado mostly missed you. I do hope the cleanup goes well.

    How is the recovery from the gall bladder surgery going?

  69. Your property looks beautiful, even with the leaves all over. I’m so glad none of you or the critters were hurt.
    Did you get to see any of the aurora Friday night? I saw beautiful sky pictures from some folks in Houston, so I’m thinking perhaps y’all got to see them, too.
    Nature’s make-up gift for the tantrum she threw the night before? 🙂
    I’m in Virginia, but we couldn’t see anything through the rainclouds, dangit.

  70. glad you ducked it! there is a you tube channel called Ryan Hall Y’all. he does weekly videos and he gives a lot of warning about possible storms in the future. on days when there is real threats of major storm activity he streams live, he and another meteorologist monitor weather radar and they often spot tornadoes before national weather does. they also have storm chasers working with them, it is really professional.

    he is dead serious with this, it isn’t thrill seeking and I highly recommend following him. Put it this way he is light years better than the weather channel or local news and the last couple of weeks was on multiple days until the wee hours trying to keep people safe.

    again glad you dodged it. We had a tornado threat a couple of years ago which is rare in NJ, it was scary as heck to see this line of red moving across the map to us.

  71. So glad you are ok. I have a brother-in-law in Michigan who had the same happen earlier last week – he has pics of a tornado just a couple of blocks away. So scary.

  77. So glad to hear you were ok.
    So sad to hear it hit your area. For us Europeans tornados are such a uncommon nature phenomenon. During my stay in Ohio I learned about them but luckily never had to experience one.
    Stay safe and hopefully no more come your way.

  85. I’m glad to hear that you’ve come through this mostly unscathed. I must admit to being curious about the roof though.Did the apple-sized hail dent it up very badly?

  86. It’ll be interesting to see what the inspection on your roof and windows say. We got a new roof and front windows replaced, after our last BIG storm.

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