Jeff Lawson, Eric Nguyen, Dave Fick, and I  filmed the Vick tornado in Concho County, and suffered major hail damage as the storm wound up initially east of SJT and west of Eola. Hard, clear golfball and occasional baseball hail battered the windshield causing dozens of cracks. The body is pocked with dents on the hood and roof and the headlamp and turnlamp glass was smashed.  The serious damage occured after having investigated an initial mesocylone which nearly dropped a tornado east of San Angelo.  (See thumbnail from 7:34 PM). When we turned to reposition, another meso had formed east of us. We knew we'd take our licks to get back out, but little did we expect a 15 minute torrent of well-developed hail.

Later, the storm drew scud into the interface region which organized and dropped a tornado at 8:14 PM, a five to seven minute circulation with a multi-vortex presentation for a few moments.  This large HP supercell continued east for several hours, causing straight line wind and severe hail damage in a long track all the way to Interstate 35.

On our way home we observed another tornado, possibly a wedge and certainly the most well-defined of the day, between Eden and Brady, Texas, around 9:27 PM.  See video grabs for details.

When we finally turned north to stay the night in Abilene, we watched supercells training along the front in Taylor County and elected to wait on the south side of town hoping one of the multiple hooks might pass within visual range. We parked beneath a gas station with a sturdy-looking roof and waited for hail and whatever else to come. But it was only some rain so we trudged our way into town where our rooms were waiting.

UPDATED JAN  2004:  I've examined the tape again and this is definitely a tornado, the last three images are quite clear.  The video grabs above were taken between 9:24 and 9:27 PM.  My chase partner Jeff Lawson writes: "We were on Hwy. 87 between Eden and Brady, just east of the intersection with RR 2134 by a couple of miles, looking north towards Millersview."