A rare August day with mid-to-upper-level winds strong enough to support supercells and organized multicells greeted me in northeastern New Mexico, conveniently on the way home from a mostly dry “monsoon chase” trip to the Desert Southwest. What an interesting sky awaited near the Abbott crossroads! The sunlit pile of high-based storms in the distance formed on the eastern rim of the Raton Mesa and remained multicellular cumulonimbi, growing in multiple directions and heaving outflow across the plains between Clayton and Logan. However, the storm behind the view, spreading its mammatus-festooned anvil overhead and toward the Clayton cluster, had fired off the Sangre de Cristos, stayed discrete, and turned hard right, spitting prolific lightning and turning into a picturesque supercell in the mesa country between Springer and Sabinoso. This day was fun way to cap off a nice couple weeks of sightseeing, photography, and a few fascinating storms.
1 W Abbott NM (13 Aug 17) Looking NE
36.3055, -104.2597From One Storm to Another
A rare August day with mid-to-upper-level winds strong enough to support supercells and organized multicells greeted me in northeastern New Mexico, conveniently on the way home from a mostly dry “monsoon chase” trip to the Desert Southwest. What an interesting sky awaited near the Abbott crossroads! The sunlit pile of high-based storms in the distance formed on the eastern rim of the Raton Mesa and remained multicellular cumulonimbi, growing in multiple directions and heaving outflow across the plains between Clayton and Logan. However, the storm behind the view, spreading its mammatus-festooned anvil overhead and toward the Clayton cluster, had fired off the Sangre de Cristos, stayed discrete, and turned hard right, spitting prolific lightning and turning into a picturesque supercell in the mesa country between Springer and Sabinoso. This day was fun way to cap off a nice couple weeks of sightseeing, photography, and a few fascinating storms.
1 W Abbott NM (13 Aug 17) Looking NE
36.3055, -104.2597