Hello,
After several more thunderstorms rolled overhead late last night and this morning we got up and we've headed SSW to Fort Stockton, where we've paused for lunch. A tornado watch has been issued, as there are a couple of outflow boundaries in the area, a dry line to the west, and reasonable flow aloft atop low level SE or E winds, especially north of the boundaries. We have a brisk easterly in FSL just now - a thunderstorm has developed to the south, and was tornado warned for a time, but seems to be easing now - perhaps as it ingests some of the modified air behind the outflow boundary.
We have towering cumulus to our west, so we may sit here a little while to see whether they mature.
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Early wake up call!
We thought we'd got away with an undisturbed night's sleep but we've been woken up by active thunderstorms here in Odessa! Plenty of thunder and lightning, with some very close bolts at times.
May 24th - Bust!
Today we had a bit of a lie in until 9am as we'd been kept awake for much of the night by some very active thunderstorms in Roswell. We knew that the best chance of severe weather was likely along an outflow boundary which was already quite far to our south, but we decided to drift southwards anyway, as a second round of storms was possible later, from an approaching upper disturbance. It was a bit tricky knowing quite where the second round would form. In the end, some storms formed close to where we'd started the day! Nothing formed around Pecos, where we ended up, during the afternoon, so we've headed to Odessa for the night.
Highlights today totalled three:
1) Helen mending our laptop cooler after the wire came out, by watching a YouTube video of someone with a slightly comedy voice demonstrating how to take it apart.
2) Being able to buy a pint of coffee for under 2 bucks.
3) Being able to legally drive at 80mph as this is the speed limit in west Texas.
Below - the sunshine in Pecos.
Highlights today totalled three:
1) Helen mending our laptop cooler after the wire came out, by watching a YouTube video of someone with a slightly comedy voice demonstrating how to take it apart.
2) Being able to buy a pint of coffee for under 2 bucks.
3) Being able to legally drive at 80mph as this is the speed limit in west Texas.
Below - the sunshine in Pecos.
Saturday, 24 May 2014
May 24th thoughts
Hello! We were kept up a lot of the night by spectacular thunderstorms which brought a record amount of rain for Roswell...see the tweet below from the NWS in Alberqueque:
4.39" @roswell Airpark breaks all-time 24hr precip record back to 1946. Previous was 4.34" 7/13/1991
4.39" @roswell Airpark breaks all-time 24hr precip record back to 1946. Previous was 4.34" 7/13/1991
Today brings another risk of severe storms across parts of New Mexico and Texas, especially near an outflow boundary in the south of New Mexico. We'll head south from Roswell to see what happens.
May 23rd - New Mexico
Hello!
We started the day in Pueblo, Colorado - we had a very pleasant drive down I-25 into New Mexico, with the plan of reaching Hobbs by the end of the day, in order to target Saturday's risk. However, we also knew there was at least a small risk of catching some storms on the way down, and sure enough, several cells formed. We intercepted a couple of them close to Vaughn, New Mexico - the first exhibited some supercell structure, as did the second. They weren't especially long-lived, but they were severe warned for hail and wind, and we saw some great CG lightning, as well as some cool structure. The one annoyance for me was leaving my tripod unattended for a few mins and it was then blown over by some modest outflow winds. My video camera seems to be OK, luckily, bar some minor damage to the casing - it could have been a lot worse but it was certainly a reminder not to leave it!! We also saw Will Owen again, which was cool.
We ended the day in Roswell, New Mexico -we ate dinner at Applebee's, and there is now a line of storms to our west moving in - thus, it is likely to get quite noisy soon, as the storms move in.
Nice convection on our way south - this is looking west into the mountains.
Second storm showing some supercell characteristics.
We started the day in Pueblo, Colorado - we had a very pleasant drive down I-25 into New Mexico, with the plan of reaching Hobbs by the end of the day, in order to target Saturday's risk. However, we also knew there was at least a small risk of catching some storms on the way down, and sure enough, several cells formed. We intercepted a couple of them close to Vaughn, New Mexico - the first exhibited some supercell structure, as did the second. They weren't especially long-lived, but they were severe warned for hail and wind, and we saw some great CG lightning, as well as some cool structure. The one annoyance for me was leaving my tripod unattended for a few mins and it was then blown over by some modest outflow winds. My video camera seems to be OK, luckily, bar some minor damage to the casing - it could have been a lot worse but it was certainly a reminder not to leave it!! We also saw Will Owen again, which was cool.
We ended the day in Roswell, New Mexico -we ate dinner at Applebee's, and there is now a line of storms to our west moving in - thus, it is likely to get quite noisy soon, as the storms move in.
Nice convection on our way south - this is looking west into the mountains.
First storm near Vaughn.
Train under first storm.
Second storm showing some supercell characteristics.
Friday, 23 May 2014
May 23 thoughts
Hello. We're just considering our options for today at the moment. I was rudely awoken by a moth crawling across my face...I think it's some kind of payback for my views on last night's karaoke noise in the Applebee's.
Anyway, the next few days will see a risk of severe storms across parts of west Texas and eastern New Mexico. We'll head in that direction today, perhaps taking in any storms which might occur on the way.
Anyway, the next few days will see a risk of severe storms across parts of west Texas and eastern New Mexico. We'll head in that direction today, perhaps taking in any storms which might occur on the way.
May 22
Hello.
We had a good chase day today - intercepted a marginal supercell near Deer Trail/Byers in Colorado, after hanging around Limon for a time, waiting for things to get going. A Denver Cyclone and vorticity zone had set up, and these were the focus for showers/storms to get going, with others developing over the Rockies and drifting east. We got some nice structure for a time, and the cell(s) became severe warned. We hung back and just watched for 2 hours or so.
Beforehand we saw Paul Botten and Ian Miller - and then whilst watching the storm we were joined by Willoughby Owen, Cam Czuchnicki, and Tim Moxon - a great day!
Below is a selection of images from today.
We had a good chase day today - intercepted a marginal supercell near Deer Trail/Byers in Colorado, after hanging around Limon for a time, waiting for things to get going. A Denver Cyclone and vorticity zone had set up, and these were the focus for showers/storms to get going, with others developing over the Rockies and drifting east. We got some nice structure for a time, and the cell(s) became severe warned. We hung back and just watched for 2 hours or so.
Beforehand we saw Paul Botten and Ian Miller - and then whilst watching the storm we were joined by Willoughby Owen, Cam Czuchnicki, and Tim Moxon - a great day!
Below is a selection of images from today.
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