This is a simulated ground zero view I had of the tornado at the moment just before I retreated to cover just milliseconds before it hit Mike and Kelly Bouldin's home. Ronald Taylor's roof is the simulated debris here, and this image depicts the picture in my mind that I shall never forget. Notice that except for the swirling vortex of roofing materials, the tornado was otherwise invisible. Pieces of roof debris fluttered slowly to the ground after the tornadic wind instantly uplifted them an (estimated) four residential stories into the air .

The Bouldin house on Greening Way showing classic low level EF-2 tornado damage. This is where I began my house to house search for injured neighbors. I found a very shaken but uninjured Bouldin family inside.

Front of our house showing EF-1 levels of roof and fence damage. Our Border Collie, Shiloh, escaped the tornado through the opening in the fence and hid under a bed for hours. She was presumed lost until my wife Diane noticed a tail wagging under the edge of the bed some 3 1/2 hours later. Fortunately, the tornadic wind blew and held both front doors open for her escape back into shelter.

Path of the twister through our backyard. Amazingly, our storage building suffered no damage other than minor paint scuffs from flying debris. The storage building in the yard directly behind ours, was tipped and rolled into their neighbor's back yard.

The top was ripped off of my weather instrument shelter leaving the thermometer and charcoal fluid untouched. The late Lou Withrow was the MIC at the Austin National Weather Service office when I received my Severe Weather Spotter Training. Lou was my Skywarn instructor and helped me design and build the instrument shelter. Lou provided the plans from his NWS office filing cabinet. The flood gauge was his idea.

A shot showing the general direction that the twister came from and the damaged deck railing that I had built just one month before the storm.

View of the tornado's path from behind our storage building showing our back neighbor's shed that was tipped over and rolled into their neighbor's backyard.

Only posts remain in a 125 foot fence as Caroline and John Olenoski survey their EF-2 category roof damage. Only three fence sections could be accounted for. The rest were swept away.

Largest section of our EF-1 roof damage. Building materials donated by Cashway Lumber appear at the edge of Mason Creek Blvd.

Leander Police seal off damaged areas from onlookers and potential looters as firefighters search for gas leaks and cut power.

Skywarn® is a nationwide network of trained severe weather spotters. The National Weather Service does not sponsor spotters directly or fund their activities, but they do provide the training for spotters. Modern Doppler radar is excellent for tracking and forecasting severe weather events, however; it cannot equal or replace trained eyes in the field.

Severe weather observation near storms can be risky, therefore; fame and glory is not what the Skywarn program is about. Safety is always first. We are driven solely by a desire to relay accurate realtime information to the weather service in an effort to save lives and property via the earliest public warnings possible.

E-Mail message I received from the National Weather Service on March 22, 2000:

Stephen,

Thank you for your message. Although I only had time for a quick scan at your web page, it looked great. I've bookmarked it for when I can take my time and really enjoy reviewing it. I agree that the damage in your subdivision was F2 in places, with most of the damage in the F0 or F1 range.

Thank you for your account in this tornado outbreak - it will be very helpful when I write our Storm Data Report.

Larry Eblen