Anti-cyclonic mini mesocyclone

A small mesocyclone, appearing to rotate anti-cyclonically, comes ashore at Half Moon Bay on Sunday night, March 13, at about 10:15 PDT.

SF Peninsula Nano-chase

Last Saturday brought a strong cold front with enough moisture, CAPE, and helicity to produce this baby mesocyclone; which formed off Santa Cruz. I sat on a rise in Woodside and experienced a tiny bit of hail in the rain core, then circled around and got this shot from Sand Hill Road and 280 in Palo Alto. I want to comment about how small this was in comparison to other storms I've followed, but for the short time I was on this storm, I was having almost as much fun.

Supercell Snow Squall?

The verdict isn't in yet, but here's a few pictures of an intense snow squall that was observed over the Truchas Mountains near Espanola, New Mexico, on Sunday, February 28 at about 5:30 PM MST.

[Update: the Albuquerque NWS office confirmed that this was not a mesocyclone.]

Last Chase as a New Mexico Resident

I woke up to a ripping E-SE wind and lots of moisture in the air. After consulting with my chase gurus Bill Mudd and Bob Schaefer, I made my way S on US 285 and stopped just E of Stanley, NM, where the show was going to come to me:






There were only a few poor E-W road options, and a big cell was stacking up back near my house, so I charged back up 285 through 2-inches of pea-sized hail on the road. Once back N of Santa Fe, I stopped to take a picture off the highway near my house:


I continued N on 285, stopping just S of Espanola, where I watched this wall cloud with a couple of observant locals:


Soon afterward this cell crashed into the Sangre de Cristo mountains, ending my last chase as a resident of NM.

Surprise Dump of '08

This was the surprise dump of winter 2007/08 in northern NM. NOAA was calling for 1-3" overnight on the 5th. There was 13 inches of snow at my house this morning on the 6th.

Overall, the long-range forecast had been calling for a La Nina condition this past year, which usually translates to a dry winter here. In actual fact, we are on our way to a record-breaking winter snowpack. Taos Ski Valley is getting close to breaking their record for total snowfall. There must have been quite a busy butterfly over Peking this year.

First Snow

Tesuque Peak and Ski Santa Fe with its first snowfall of the season. NOAA long-range is saying dry for this winter. Fingers and toes are crossed that they're wrong. Last night's event is definitely encouraging.

Late Summer Rotation

Today we've been dealing with a winter-type Pacific trough coming across New Mexico with a good, juicy tap of moisture. There must be something encouraging helicity as well, because a nice little rotating updraft has been making it's way up the Jemez mountains this evening.


While there's been very little lightning at all today, and none that I could see with this storm, the thing actually had a little wall cloud working for it:




But by the time I got the 300mm lens on my camera, it had gone soft, although it persisted for a good 15 minutes in this soft form: