Randy Denzer
EF2
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5/14/08 DISC: Texas
- Thread starter Randy Denzer
- Start date
Bill Tabor
EF5
Hey did any of you check out the radar with hook and velocity of the storm cell as it was just west of Cedar Park near Lago Vista? It looked pretty incredible. It had a huge hook and consistent rotation with constant Tvs's. It appeared to have a 'debris ball' on the end of the hook signifying a tornado doing damage. Streaming off from the debris ball was a wave / wake like feature. Did anyone notice this? What is that feature - I don't recall ever seeing it?
Chris Wilburn
EF4
I know exactly what you are talking about Bill. My chase partner and I were trying to figure out the same thing. We were sitting just south about 1-2 miles of Cedar Park as the huge hook area passed over our location. We saw a pretty large wall cloud but that is all we could make out. We also commented that it appeared to be a possible debris ball on radar, but I don't think there were every any touchdowns west of Cedar Park.
Tony Cook
EF2
Here's the Wall Cloud/Funnel feature I observed at around 9 p.m. with that cell:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVista_0.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVista_0202Z_1.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVista_0202Z_2.jpg
We were on FM 1431, looking slightly north of Lago Vista, from about 6-8 miles west. Here is my crude map of our location and approximate field of view:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVistaTerrain.jpg
Visually, it looked like a big barrel, and persisted for several minutes. It was still looking good when nearer clouds obscured it from our location. A funnel cloud was reported at that time north of Lago Vista.
It is difficult to discern in the low-light vidcaps here, but the bottom part of the feature was completely shrouded by low clouds or precip (at least on the western side). It was very ominous-looking, and I was not feeling good about the prospects of this moving into the heavily populated Cedar Park and Round Rock areas north of AUS. Fortunately, whatever it was apparently did not touch down over there.
I wonder about the cloudy mess that was hiding the base, and its relationship to the "debris ball" signature. Does anyone have a radar shot handy (saw one briefly that night, but not since)? Also curious about that area north of Lago Vista/west of Cedar Park. It looks pretty desolate on Google satellite (Polecat Knob/Round Mountain). Something could have been on the ground there briefly, IMO. It does not look like an area that would be conducive to finding damage, but I have never driven around up there, so I don't know.
Maybe I can post the video sequence somewhere, although it is lightning-illuminated and low-light mode. Tough to draw any definitive conclusions just from the low-res vidcaps, but taken with the location and radar signature, it is suspicious.
TonyC
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVista_0.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVista_0202Z_1.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVista_0202Z_2.jpg
We were on FM 1431, looking slightly north of Lago Vista, from about 6-8 miles west. Here is my crude map of our location and approximate field of view:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/14May2008/LagoVistaTerrain.jpg
Visually, it looked like a big barrel, and persisted for several minutes. It was still looking good when nearer clouds obscured it from our location. A funnel cloud was reported at that time north of Lago Vista.
It is difficult to discern in the low-light vidcaps here, but the bottom part of the feature was completely shrouded by low clouds or precip (at least on the western side). It was very ominous-looking, and I was not feeling good about the prospects of this moving into the heavily populated Cedar Park and Round Rock areas north of AUS. Fortunately, whatever it was apparently did not touch down over there.
I wonder about the cloudy mess that was hiding the base, and its relationship to the "debris ball" signature. Does anyone have a radar shot handy (saw one briefly that night, but not since)? Also curious about that area north of Lago Vista/west of Cedar Park. It looks pretty desolate on Google satellite (Polecat Knob/Round Mountain). Something could have been on the ground there briefly, IMO. It does not look like an area that would be conducive to finding damage, but I have never driven around up there, so I don't know.
Maybe I can post the video sequence somewhere, although it is lightning-illuminated and low-light mode. Tough to draw any definitive conclusions just from the low-res vidcaps, but taken with the location and radar signature, it is suspicious.
TonyC
