A late-season cold front and its easterly boundary-layer flow helped to move moisture from Gulf of Mexico through the gaps in mountains of west Texas and southern New Mexico, kickstarting the southwestern desert “monsoon” season a bit early, as June spilled into July. After an essentially nonexistent wet season in 2020, 2021 would offer a long and productive summer of convection in New Mexico and Arizona, both for itinerant (me) and resident desert-rat storm observers. Farmers surely welcomed the relief too. This multicell thunderstorm, as most do in summertime, formed along higher terrain and emptied its load of rain both in the mountains and as it eased off to the adjoining desert floors. Just enough shear existed to displace the updraft from the main core and somewhat prolong the storm’s lifespan.
8 ENE Nutt NM (1 Jul 21) Looking SSE
32.6015, -107.3243