Name: Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Texas, November 15, 2001
Start: 2001-11-15T17:30
End: 2001-11-15T18:05
Location: Texas

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $95,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 15, 3:05 PM CST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 15, 3:05 PM CST, 2 hours 25 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
305 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

UPPER LOW CENTERED NEAR GUADALUPE PEAK TO CONTINUE CHURNING OUT BITS
OF ENERGY ON ITS SOUTH SIDE.  AS THESE VORTICIES COLLIDE WITH THE
MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS AND THE HILL
COUNTRY TONIGHT AND FRIDAY...EXPECT MORE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN EVENTS
ON TOP OF WHAT WEVE ALREADY RECEIVED LAST NIGHT AND TODAY.  A BRIEF
RESPITE NOTED IN RADAR AND SATELLITE DISPLAYS BUT THIS WILL BE SHORT
LIVED AS SATELLITE IMAGERY ALREADY SHOWS A SPEED MAX JETTING ACROSS
THE BIG BEND AND NORTHERN MEXICO TOWARD THE RIO GRANDE WITH
CONVECTION ONCE MORE BLOSSOMING WEST OF THE RIVER IN RESPONSE TO
THIS UPPER-LEVEL FEATURE.

UPPER LOW FORECAST TO MOVE OUT ON SUNDAY WITH SOME MENTION OF PRECIP
REMAINING IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST MUCH OF NEXT WEEK.

WILL CONTINUE THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT AND MENTION THE
POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN THE BODY OF THE FORECAST.
TORNADO WATCH TO RUN UNTIL 6 PM CST.

.PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
AUS 62/72/60/73 9876
DRT 60/72/60/72 7765
SAT 63/72/62/73 9876

.EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS AND HILL
COUNTRY.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Nov 15, 3:40 PM CST, 1 hour 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO, TX
340 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

312 PM    4 N SAN MARCOS            TX   TORNADO
11/15/01   HAYS                           REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

315 PM    2 S BUDA                  TX   TORNADO
11/15/01   HAYS                           REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

335 PM    4 S AUSTIN BEN WHITE & I35  TX   TORNADO ON GROUND
11/15/01   TRAVIS                          REPORTED BY CITY OF
                                           AUSTIN

WR

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Travis

When: November 15, 5:30 PM CST to 5:41 PM CST
Where: Travis County, 4 mi NW of Bergstrom Afb
Rating: F1
Path length: 3 mi
Path width: 500 yd
Property damage: $80,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 30.233, -97.700

An F0 tornado struck south of Austin near the airport. Moving from near Montopolis and Riverside Drive northeastward, it lifted up and down. At 1200 Montopolis Road, it tore the roof off the Montopolis Community Center, continued toward the Bastrop Highway, then lifted and dissipated. Large sheets of the metal roof were lifted and wrapped around two trees behind the center and against a house across the street. Around 50 people in the building at the time reported hearing the roar of a freight train.

Thunderstorm Wind, Travis

When: November 15, 5:39 PM CST to 5:42 PM CST
Where: Travis County, Bergstrom Afb
Measured: 54 kt (62 mph)
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 30.200, -97.667

Tornado, Travis

When: November 15, 5:44 PM CST to 6:05 PM CST
Where: Travis County, 2 mi NW of Bergstrom Afb
Rating: F0
Path length: 4.5 mi
Path width: 50 yd
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 30.217, -97.683

A second tornado struck near the Austin-Bergstrom airport, and was also identified by the airport observer. It moved from 1.5 miles northwest of the airport tower northeastward across SH183 and the Bastrop Highway and dissipated around 4 miles northeast of the tower. It also lifted and dropped during its life.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Texas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Texas, 2001 Warnings in Texas, November 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5273245, 5273246, 5273247.