Day 4 - Thursday 21st May

Hello. We started the day in San Angelo, Texas, and woke to drizzle and 13C. We perused the models and observations and thought we might chance a slim chance of a severe storm across far SW TX, where the last vestiges of tropical moisture and warmth had been shunted by the strong polar cold front. However, after heading west for around an hour or so we stopped to take stock. It was readily apparent that unless we headed pretty much right to the border with Mexico, it was unlikely we would see anything decent, and even then, there was a chance the low cloud might be there hiding things.

We checked around for hotels and, of course, Applebee's! We saw that the nearest Applebee's in the direction we wanted to head for the next couple of days (north from where we were) and saw that Hobbs, New Mexico, fitted the bill. So we headed there. There was no let-up from the low cloud, mist, and drizzle, and the only real change was the drop in temperature as we climbed - it was 10C when we got here!

We passed through a few heavy showers from elevated instability - indeed, there were thunderstorms about - at first glance this would seem very odd, but they had formed from elevated instability above the cool, polar airmass.

I managed to get the first swim and hot tub in when we got to Hobbs - it was nice to get to the hotel in the light and at a reasonable time! We then went to Applebee's for dinner, of course!

We bumped into Aussie chaser Daniel Shaw en route - here he is checking out our car!