Images of the tornado that reportedly touched down in San Antonio on Thursday morning as seen from the Embassy Suites downtown. Credit: X / @jf4jack
Morning commuters got a surprise Thursday after a tornado touched down on San Antonio’s East Side, according to meteorologists and social media posts.

The weak tornado was sighted near Joint Base San Antonio-Sam Houston at around 8 a.m., the military installation confirmed on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Joint Base San Antonio weather has confirmed a brief, very weak tornado touched down on JBSA-Fort Sam Houston around 8 a.m this morning,” the base tweeted via is official account. “There are no reported injuries, but downed trees and some damage to vehicles have been reported.”

The tornado sighting was also confirmed by KSAT and also by Fox San Antonio meteorologist Brad Sowder, who tweeted that there were reports of damage in Terrell Hills.
Commuters posted videos on X of the tornado, which appears to have touched down near the intersection of I-35 and U.S. Highway 281 and traveled north toward Brackenridge Park, according to KSAT meteorologist Justin Horne.
X user @logan_wx_ posted a video of a time lapse of Thursday morning’s surprise weather phenomenon.
Although damage is being reported near Brackenridge Park, the San Antonio Zoo let the community know that no creatures in its care were harmed.

“Let the community and zoo lovers know that all the animals and staff are safe and secure and that we did not suffer any damage,” zoo officials tweeted.

Despite the eye witness accounts and video evidence, the National Weather Service (NWS) has not yet confirmed whether a tornado touched down in San Antonio or where the phenomenon ranked on the Fujita scale — if at all.

NWS did report that parts of San Antonio got about 1/10th of an inch of rain as of 7 a.m. However, those measurements are subject to change as precipitation continues through the morning.


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This article appears in Oct 18-30, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...