New Mexico storms

Clovis, NM

Boise City, OK

We began the day in Lamar, CO, and we had two separate target areas to choose from.  Because one was in South Dakota and the other was in Texas, we would only be able to choose one.  During the weather briefing, we looked at models and forecasts.  Bill decided our best play would be in the Texas Panhandle, where our tornado chances seemed to be better.  In addition, the Panhandle play would put us in good position for the next day or two.  After leaving Lamar around 9 a.m., we had a pit stop in Springfield, CO and continued south to Boise City, OK.  We stopped at a small heritage museum for a bit while Bill looked at the data and decided what our next move would be.  There was a giant Tin Man and dinosaur to photograph, as well as a slice of a sequoia tree that was riddled with fire ants.  We continued south to Dalhart, TX, where we enjoyed a lovely lunch at Pizza Hut.  Shortly after lunch, storms were beginning to initiate much earlier than anticipated.  We blasted towards Channing, TX, where a storm was looking good.  As we got closer, the storm died, but more development was happening near Clovis, NM.  This cell was pretty much stationary, and we were able to get close to it with no issues.  However, we killed this one, too.  After abandoning this storm, we headed towards Dora, NM, where another good cell was happening.  Along the way, the Clovis cell became more organized, and we decided to head back to chase it.  We were treated to some good mid-level structure, and the storm was spinning hard before cold outflow from other storms undercut it.  At the end of the day, we were treated to a nice dust storm from the cold outflow, and the red dust provided good contrast to the pictures.  We drove 567 miles and stayed in Lubbock, TX for the night.

Milnsand, NM

Boise City, OK storms

Today began my 16 day storm chasing vacation.  This will be another year driving for Tempest Tours, and Bill Reid is our fearless leader for this specific tour.  After the guests and staff went through introductions, Bill went through the safety orientation.  Once that was finished, we knew our plan for the day was simple.  We wanted to get in position for a potential chase day in South Dakota on Monday, so we began heading west and north.  There was an area near Abilene, TX that was highlighted in a severe risk area, but Bill knew it would be better for us to head closer southeast Colorado in the hopes of getting some storms.  Either way, we wound up getting closer to our target area of South Dakota.  We headed west on I-40 and jumped on U.S. 287 to Watonga, OK.  Once we arrived in Watonga, we continued west to Seiling, OK, where we had our first pit stop.  Lunch was in Woodward, OK, and we ate at a Braum's.  After lunch, we continued west to Boise City, OK, and we had another pit stop in Balko, OK.  The Cu field was looking better, which meant storms would soon go up.  A few showed up on radar near Boise City, but Bill was looking at southeast Colorado for better storms.  As we got closer to Boise City, we found an abandoned home to photograph with the storm in the background.  After spending 15 minutes with this picture stop, we fueled the vans in Boise City and headed north to Lamar, CO, where our rooms were booked for the night.  Along the way, storms near Pueblo, CO, were looking good, so we were hoping they could stay together.  We stopped a couple times to take pictures of vibrant rainbows, so we did not leave the day empty-handed.  Our total mileage for today was 427 miles.

*I will be adding pictures once I figure out how to use this new software!!*