Thunderstorms in Austin and Stormchasing

I have always loved to watch thunderstorms. Being in the middle of a multi-year drought makes it even more enjoyable. This one was stunning. I could hear it coming from the west, sounding like an approaching train. Out of my east facing sliding window it was dead calm. The rain line passed right overhead. At one time it was pouring rain on the west side of the condo and not on the east. The temperature dropped 20 degrees, from 73 to 53, in 30 minutes

Radar as the storm hit - Source: wunderground.com

Looking the front door, the rain was intense, the lightning bright, and the thunder earsplitting. One thunder clap was from a lightning strike so close that the flash and sound were simultaneous.

Opening the aptly named storm door, I shot over the top of the door into the wind. The rain was so close and dense all I got was flash bounce from the drops.


So how is this stormchasing? It's not really since the storm came to me. Several years ago I was in a tornado, just over 1/4 mile from the funnel. It was an F1, the mildest strength if you can call a tornado mild, and it was raining so hard I couldn't see anything. I'll describe the whole experience in a future post. I'd still like to chase and see a tornado, but from a much safer distance.