2023-05-24 REPORTS: NM

[John Farley]

Here are a few pictures from last Wednesday, May 24, the first of my four days of storm observation/photography in eastern New Mexico. This day featured a big, powerful HP (high-precipitation) supercell that tracked from just east of Tucumcari southeastward to the Clovis area. producing a swath of 75-90+ mph wind and hail to two inches in diameter. And some tornadoes that, coming from the west as I was, I was on the wrong side of the storm to see.

Looking east at the storm from the west edge of Tucumcari, around 5:25 p.m.:



Although I was on the wrong side of the storm to see the tornadoes that occurred farther south, I did catch a small funnel cloud. This was taken looking east from Tucumcari around 5:40, just about the time a 76 mph wind gust was recorded at the Tucumcari airport, which is 7 miles east of town:



Looking southeast from Tucumcari, about 7 p.m., around the time of the tornadoes. I don't think this is one of them though, as they were likely hidden from my view by rain:



Here is a sunset storm view. This was a new storm that went up to the west of the main supercell. Picture taken looking south, from SE of Tucumcari:



High wind blew over these semis on I-40. This happened not long after the 76 mph gust was reported at the airport, and this location is not far from the airport. The semis were going opposite directions and both got blown over at the same location:



Finally, a photo taken a few days later at a motel I ended up at following a subsequent chase in Clovis. This damage was from wind-driven hail from this storm, with similar damage occurring at many locations around Clovis:



I will post a fuller report from my Web page as time permits, and will link it from here.

 

[John Farley]

Full report now posted at: www.johnefarley.com/chase52423.htm

 

[Jeremy Perez]

After a long travel day on the 23rd, we set up near Logan to watch convection fire off the mesas north of Tucumcari. Even though initially there didn't appear to be great upper level support, enough shear and instability were in place for a supercell risk. And the setup did not disappoint in that regard.

The storm we were watching gradually gathered strength and started drifting southward and we made our way south of I-40 on Rt. 278 to watch the slow-mover on its way down. The morphing wall cloud/RFD shelf was wonderfully chopped with texture.


Found the windmill-supercell combo I'd been looking for. 2327Z

At 2343Z, a column of dust appeared under/north of the RFD shelf/wall cloud as we were repositioning 12 miles south of I-40. We quickly pulled over and I zoomed as tight as I could for photos (no video). The feature lasted about 3 minutes until 2346Z. I think the base of the storm was just south of the interstate at that point. As far away as we were, it was difficult to tell whether we were seeing a coincident gustnado, or if it might be a hybrid circulation in contact with the cloud base under the wall cloud. So far I haven't seen clear images from other chasers at that time who were closer.


Gustnado or possibly hybrid circulation roughly near I-40, 11-12 miles north. 2344Z

We made our way through Apache Canyon and got up onto the Caprock. I anticipated the need to head off new cells popping off to the south. CAMs suggested this would be a likely evolution, but it didn't quite work out that way. Convection did try initiating further south of our main storm and it encouraged me to stay well ahead so I wouldn't get caught behind any new hail cores. But each new strong updraft got ingested northward into the dominant cell, like a long distance flanking line, and making a beautiful mess in the process.


New updraft getting rapidly ingested northward into the dominent cell. 0023Z

As the storm lofted up onto the Caprock, it got stronger, while the base was constantly adorned with a mix of lowerings, scud tags, shelf teeth and transient wall cloud features. It was chaotic enough to recommend maintaining a respectable distance.


Contrast enhanced shots taken at the time of a chaser-reported tornado, plotted by SPC just behind and to the left of the homestead. 0049Z

We made our way to Rt. 209 south of Broadview as the storm rapidly intensified. We stopped at CR33, six miles south of Broadview, and spent a couple minutes taking shots as the storm loomed over the wind farm. At this point, it was pulling incredibly intense inflow—car-door breaking strong—a lot of effort needed to carefully get out for pics. The streamwise vorticity current was flying right-to-left into the rain wrapped base. The RFD precip hid a developing monster. I knew something had to be happening in there, but without contrast-enhancing eyeballs, I couldn't make it out. However, even with photo editing, it's still inconclusive visually, whether the lowering in there is tornadic.


Possible tornadic lowering behind the RFD core from Rt. 209 & CR33. 0118Z

Repositioning southward was a white-knuckles experience with the enhanced traffic load and I'm glad we got moving when we did, especially thinking about the traffic that was clogged up a 3-4 miles further back in that line. Dense traffic or no, I feel that SVC surfing on HP beasts is definitely not for me.


Rear dashcam view, rounding into the Rt. 209 curve north of Clovis as chaser conga line advances south.

After that memorable experience, I stayed a lot further out to destress and attempted shots through growing inflow dust. Thankfully the next day's chase would be in the same vicinity, so we grabbed a motel and got some much needed rest.


Lightning-illuminated, dust munching storm structure. 0231Z

Full batch of photos are posted here:
24 May 2023 Storm Chase — Highways & Hailstones