Sunday May 25, 2003 - New Mexico - Flooding, Wall Cloud, Mammatus

 


Click here for a more detailed blowup map.

Once we got up Sunday morning we adjusted our target to Hobbs, NM after seeing the latest forecast model data and some observations and satellite. Peggy gave the guests a morning briefing.

Leaving Tulia, TX we met up with storm chaser Jeff Gammons briefly at a gas station. Jeff and his team were heading south toward Carlsbad while we opted to head more west-northwest. Check out that equipment he had on his vehicle!

The risk seemed slight at best and our concern was to get in a position to be able to chase in Colorado on Monday. So, we headed towards Roswell via Lovington, NM. East of Lovington, NM we stopped to take photos of some Blooming Cholla growing along the road. This is just a beautiful flowering cactus with primarily pink but also some yellow flowers.

Just east of Hagerman we got into some beautiful terrain and took some photos of the cliffs. Mike jumped the fence to do some prospecting.

A little farther down the road we discovered a cell that had developed and was outflowish. It had developed a shelf cloud, and we watched as this non-severe cell moved over us. It was fun to watch the wind shift and temperature drop so rapidly within just a matter of minutes.

Once this cell had passed over us, we got in the vehicles due to the pending rain and drove into the cell. A little data indicated that a severe cell had cropped up just to our south near Carlsbad, NM. We high tailed it south along the west side of the multicellular cluster of storms to get to the southern cell. While trying to get closer we ran into a beautiful wall cloud and mammatus. Together with the lightning truely was an amazing part of this chase. View time lapse video of the wall cloud dissipating. [2.4 MB]

Reports came in that major street flooding was occuring in Carlsbad. Once in Carlsbad we got great video and a first-hand experience of the flooding as our vehicle's tires were covered at times. [3.1 MB]

After following this cell through Carlsbad the cell began to bow and gust out. We followed the storm until the end to witness a gorgeous rainbow and sunset-lit ragged mammatus. View time lapse video of the mammatus as the sun sets. [1.7 MB]

This was the end of this day's chase, so we headed north and stayed in Roswell, NM at the Holiday Inn Express, and ate at the Applebee's right next door.