Firing off the southern rim of the Sangre de Cristo range, this storm spent fascinating interludes both in somewhat outflow-dominant form and as a classical, sculpted supercell, before heaving forth a large pile of rain and outflow. That last act nearly finished the storm off, but for a persistent area of midlevel rotation that lasted until it could catch one last gasp of nearly surface-based inflow. A wall cloud developed, and for a brief interlude, some low-level rotation returned, yet the laminar stacking of flattened cloud decks surrounding the mesocyclone betrayed stable outflow air still being re-ingested into the updraft. Such rollercoaster cycling of structure and organization is common to supercells in marginal-flow environments, of which this one had to take advantage by moving hard right (south-southeast) in its strongest phases. Even in the storm’s slow, final disorganizing and dissipating stage, it would shoot both outflow and lightning across the eastern New Mexico scrublands well into the evening.
2 NW Tucumcari NM (13 Aug 17) Looking N
35.2426, -103.7868Laminar Decks
Firing off the southern rim of the Sangre de Cristo range, this storm spent fascinating interludes both in somewhat outflow-dominant form and as a classical, sculpted supercell, before heaving forth a large pile of rain and outflow. That last act nearly finished the storm off, but for a persistent area of midlevel rotation that lasted until it could catch one last gasp of nearly surface-based inflow. A wall cloud developed, and for a brief interlude, some low-level rotation returned, yet the laminar stacking of flattened cloud decks surrounding the mesocyclone betrayed stable outflow air still being re-ingested into the updraft. Such rollercoaster cycling of structure and organization is common to supercells in marginal-flow environments, of which this one had to take advantage by moving hard right (south-southeast) in its strongest phases. Even in the storm’s slow, final disorganizing and dissipating stage, it would shoot both outflow and lightning across the eastern New Mexico scrublands well into the evening.
2 NW Tucumcari NM (13 Aug 17) Looking N
35.2426, -103.7868