High Plains Drifter

June 4th was the last chase day of a 3-day short trip to New Mexico before I set off for Nevada for my long-awaited bowling trip.  I once again began the day in Clayton (at the Days Inn this time) with a couple of targets in mind.  My main area of interest was actually near the I-25 corridor from Raton to Springer to Las Vegas where it appeared the best juxtaposition of deep layer shear and instability would exist.  Another area that kind of caught my eye was in the TX Panhandle, however low level winds were weak with really not much help from any terrain (other than Caprock escarpment).  I knew for sure there would be storms in my primary target area and was more unsure about the TX Panhandle area, thus I decided on heading west.

I left Clayton around 10:30am MDT and drove towards Raton on Hwy 64.  I reached Clayton to find a bunch of disorganized storms with little interest.  After filing up gas and considering my options, I finally decided to head south on I-25 from Raton to get ahead of a storm that had indications of marginally severe hail to the southwest of Raton.  This was around 12:30pm.  I pulled off briefly at an interchange to observe and take a photo of this storm, but it was really of little interest.  Soon, however, another storm west of this one was looking better on radar, and visually I could see a rain free base off in the distant west.  I continued south to the Cimarron exit.  Between 1:15 and 1:30pm, this storm was looking quite interesting to my northwest as I was traveling slowly west on state Hwy 58.  This is the first time I’ve chased west of I-25!  Two distinct updraft bases consolidated to form one large dominant updraft… a good sign for sustained future storm strength.  I was in a perfect position between Maxwell and Springer just west of I-25 with this new storm moving southeast towards me.  I shot photos through about 2:00pm until the storm was approaching too close and I headed back to I-25 to Springer.  The storm was well-developed now both visually and on radar with a very dark, large rain-free base and a nebulous lowering… with the Sangre de Cristo mountains as a backdrop!  The photography was just fantastic.  The storm was at its greatest intensity, with radar-indicated mesocyclone, when I was observing it to the west-northwest from a few miles west of Springer shortly before 2:30pm MDT.  The structure of the supercell was very clean with great contrast, a beautiful forward-flank precipitation core well-separated from the best updraft region and the mountains in the background — certainly my best supercell photography opportunity for me so far in 2007.  The storm continued southeast and I had to stay out ahead of it, so I dropped south a few more miles.  When I pulled off again, the storm structure was not looking nearly as good anymore, and I had a decision to make — whether to keep following this activity or to break off and head back east in the general direction of back home.  I basically achieved what I hoped to on this chase, so I was definitely content on just heading back home.  Back to Clayton it was.

When I got back to Clayton, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and refueled.  I noticed new storms forming to my north on radar and visually.  It would be tough to not chase this since this was basically moving towards the general direction of Clayton.  I drove back northwest from Clayton on Hwy 64 a few miles and noticed a brilliant rainbow on the backside of a weak storm that just recently glanced Clayton.  I stopped along Hwy 64 for numerous photos of this amazing sight.  The rainbow was fairly low on the horizon but the backside of the storm was quite photogenic.  This was pretty much icing on the cake!  A small LP storm to my north began to look more interesting so I headed north from Mt. Dora on a county road to photograph this little storm… again very picturesque.  I then continued east to follow this small storm before it began to dissipate.  Finally, before sunset, another storm farther east was somewhat photogenic as I approached Boise City and this would pretty much conclude my chase.  I had some dinner here in Boise City before I began my trek back home to Dodge City.  This was definitely one of my favorite New Mexico chases!!

Supercell storm structure west of Springer, NM with Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background:

Dissipating storm with rainbow looking east towards Clayton, NM: