mesophile

Anti-cyclonic mini mesocyclone

2011-03-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-03-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

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

2008-05-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

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:

Santa Fe Tornado Debriefing

2007-06-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

The first week of June brought severe weather to Santa Fe. This updraft was severe warned for hail, but didn't drop much in town. However, it did rain quite a bit.

5 days later, on Saturday, June 9, I was readying to go chase a cell that was rapidly forming over Cochiti Pueblo. I looked out the window to note progress and was utterly shocked to see this landspout at La Bajada hill south of town. My gear was already in the truck, and by the time I moved to record the event it was over. This photo was taken by Peter Breslin.

I jumped in the truck and rushed to the storm. I got under the updraft about 20 minutes after it had sucked up and transported the landspout. There was a nice rain-free base, but it was high at over 12,000 ft., making it less likely a tornado producer.

But the updraft did put on a bit of a show. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a wall cloud, but it was unusual for an updraft in Santa Fe County.

Here it looks like three separate wall clouds.

I'm inclined to believe this storm had some rotation when I was taking these pictures. But it went linear as it crashed into the Sangre de Christos, ending Santa Fe's big day in Tornado Alley.

Chase 5: Scared Straight

2007-06-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

I got a headstart on my chase on Thursday, May 31. With my nowcaster Bob Schaefer's help, I arrived in Boise City, OK right when when things were really firing. As I approached this storm from the south, its structure resolved itself and I knew I had a winner.

This was my first HP supercell.

Another shot without the spark.

Meanwhile, Bob told me that the velocity couplet was looking rather severe. I moved back south and east, easily following the storm along highway 412. It began throwing down these insane wallclouds with lots of scary-looking rotation. The storm was moving WSW, the same direction as the road, so I was safe where I was at, pretty much by myself as most of the other chasers were coming up from Guymon, OK to the east.

But when this funnel began to form, I really started to get nervous. It would have been an awesome photographic opportunity had it become a tornado.

Soon there were other chasers on the road, like over a hundred of them. I figure this must be some university meteorology research project in action.

The storm to the west took on the appearance of a serious groundscraper.

My first DOW truck sighting. I decided to follow it toward Guymon. There we came upon another DOW truck and a billion other chasers. When the DOW truck pulled over, so did I. This is the result:

Friday's chase took me from Guymon, OK, to Madador, TX, and points southeast. There I finally managed to get in front of this monster storm, which was backbuilding faster than I could drive on 70 m.p.h. roads. It sucked in just about everything in the sky within a 100 mile radius.

This storm made yesterday's Guymon storm look positively puny in comparison.

The green maw of hailacious fury. I stopped on the way to Throckmorton, TX, to get this shot. The delay meant driving directly under the wall cloud to get in front of the storm again. Yet another moment of fear realized on this chase.

I stopped to kick back after the thrilling chase. No tornado today, but lots of adrenaline and lots of driving to get back home. Total chase mileage: 1,420 miles.

Chase 5 This Weekend

2007-05-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

The SPC has got a nice fat risk area within range this weekend. I'll be out Friday, Saturday and Sunday, hopefully closer to home rather than almost all the way to Corpus Christie, TX.

Almost Summer Sunset

2007-05-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

The sun sets behind Los Alamos now, meaning it's almost summer solstice.

May 4 - 5 Kansas Tornado Outbreak Film

2007-05-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

My first film, shot during the tornado outbreak that included the Greensburg EF-5 monster. [Click on the link for a better viewing experience. When my station data updates on this page it resets the video to the beginning.]

Meso Convective System Rolls Over Los Alamos

2007-05-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

Vorticity translation results in a meso-scale storm system showing some meso-rotation on the radar as it approached Los Alamos. It was completely linear by the time it got to Santa Fe.

My First Tornado

2007-05-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

A screen grab of my first tornado, which touched down about 15 miles northeast of Coldwater, Kansas. Here's a link to the video, which I shot on a Canon HV-20 HiDef video camera at 1080i resolution, although it's much smaller than that on Google Video.

I was on the west side of the storm, hence the bad lighting and noisy image. I'm not sure how far away I am here, but next time I want to be on the east side of the storm and within a mile of the ground contact.

Chase 4: The Beginning and The End

2007-05-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm kicking myself for not dropping my snake chasing in Greensburg, Kansas, to get on the storm that eventually wiped the town off the face of the Earth. It was fairly late in the day on Friday, so when Bob called me to tell me about storms going up in Texas and Oklahoma, I was more inclined to save gas rather than run for a storm I might not make until after dark. In retrospect, I probably would have been able to catch the storm about 30 minutes before sundown if I had bolted at that moment and hauled ass.

As it was, I dilly-dallied a bit more on the farm roads, looking for snakes. I took this picture of these deer before I found a lone gopher snake.

I eventually found my way back to highway 154, where I stopped to save a box turtle. By this time the storms were getting close, so I got out of the truck and took this picture:

This cell was not tornadic, but the one behind it sure was. This storm passed to my east. The one coming up was constantly lit up by lightening. I watched it approach with another chaser until we began to get pelted by hail. That was my cue to take off.

I drove through a driving hail storm on the way back to Dodge City. It was mostly nickel-sized, but there were a few quarter-sized stones in there too. The racket it made against the outside of my truck was deafening and scary.

When I got back and situated, I started to look at the current data streams. That's when I saw this monster hook echo. The light blue line is my path as recorded by my GPS unit. Check out this velocity scan showing a huge couplet, an almost sure sign of a monster tornado:

I could have been on that storm, although maybe only at night. Night is the scariest time to chase, if you asked me. You better have current data or a nowcaster who does, because it would be the easiest thing in the world to drive right into one of these monsters.

*****

I don't have any photos worth showing from day 3. Bob had me waiting in Perryton, Texas. We anticipated late afternoon initiation in that area, but it turned out to be a bust. The storms went up east, so I made a half-hearted effort to get on one of those. On the way I missed my turn and ended up core punching the storms over interstate 40. I finally got around them and on one storm, but it turned out to be linear, and outside some wall cloud-like looking scud clouds, all I got was the pleasure of driving the OK and TX countryside and a very long drive back home.

Total mileage for this chase: 1,556 miles.

There's a few more pictures here.

Chase 4: Better Than The Boobie Prize

2007-05-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

After sleeping on a side street in Dodge City, KS, on Friday night, I headed down to Oklahoma per Bob Schaefer's instructions after deciding to bypass Greensburg, sure to be blocked off anyway after last night's town-removing monster tornado. Today was to be my first true textbook chase. Part of that was seeing what seemed like hundreds of other chasers on the road. At the beginning of the action it was as if every car or truck with antennas was going every which-way, like ants buzzing around an ant hill after it's been disturbed.

I ended up south of Laverne, OK, on a fast-moving supercell showing some lowerings but nothing really substantial. I met three guys in a nice new yellow Dodge Dakota and watched the cell pass with them, which was pretty cool in the light of some of my other chaser interactions. They took off and soon afterward, so did I, at first on the cell I was on earlier and then just to find a place to kick back and wait for the late afternoon round of initiation. On the way to my waiting spot I encountered a few openly contemptuous chasers. I guess my bubbling-over-with-enthusiasm personal style didn't suit them too well. Once again, denied by the cool kids...

After a few hours of kicking back along Oklahoma highway 64, Bob had me heading back to Buffalo, OK. New storms were going up. I pulled off on a side road, watching and taking pictures. Cells were lighting up one after another. I decided to go with my gut, which was telling me to hold back for the new cells. Then I picked one and headed off back up toward Kansas.

Here's my cell with its developing flanking line.

Along the way I stopped and watched some significant lowerings and funnels, but no touchdowns as far as I could tell. I kept going north, finally ending up in Coldwater, KS.

Here I joined a whole fat clot of chasers moving north along the highway. I passed many sitting on the side of the road, which was a great move on my part. When I finally stopped, it was on. My first tornado:

As I continued to chase, I ended up in the southeast corner of the Greensburg tornado's path, which curiously knocked down this phone pole while leaving the others standing.

Sitting in Dodge City, KS

2007-05-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm parked in Dodge City, Kansas, on a nice shady neighborhood street waiting for the convection to fire. My nowcaster Bob Schaefer, an absolute godsend as far as my chasing strategy goes, has me waiting here for his call. The Stormtrack guys are all over the place as usual, but what many of them have in common today is anticipation for a big event later in the afternoon.

With so much terrain to cover and so many opinions about where it's going to go, it's just best to pick a spot and hope for the best. It's surely a lot cheaper than burning gas going hither and yon and back to hither again.

Bob just called and he's got me headed east toward Pratt, KS.

Chase Three: Another Just Miss

2007-04-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

On a very windy afternoon with lots of dust thrown into the air, storms began to form after seemingly much difficulty about 10 miles ESE of Plains, Texas, where my chase began. At about 5:30 pm, when things were just starting, I hooked up with a nice couple from California, Bill and France, through my nowcaster for the day, Bob Schaefer. We watched these storms develop but didn't see much in the way of rotational signatures.

Meanwhile, the real meat got out ahead of us. We hauled ass after it and ended up at a roadblock about 5 miles south of Olton, TX. This was the path of the Olton tornado where it crossed 168. Powerlines were on the road, hence the roadblock. The photograph above shows an updraft following that tornadic cell. It seemed to show some signs of mesoscale rotation. Soon it was dark and so we headed to Plainsview to wait out an approaching squall line behind the line of supercells we were chasing. The squall lifted over Plainsview with little impact, so I said good bye to Bill and France and headed the 343 miles back home for a total chase mileage of 782 miles.

It's On Like King Kong

2007-04-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

There's a great storm window opening up on Saturday in west Texas. Pro-chaser Tony Laubach is saying Dalhart in the northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle might be a good place to start.

I am officially a ham radio operator now, call sign: KE5NUV. Hopefully my rig will arrive today so I can install it before I head over to Los Alamos-based chaser Bob Schafer's house to view his videos and absorb his wisdom before I head out this weekend.

Update: Saturday is really starting to shape up:

Supercell Over New Mexico

2007-03-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here's what little video I have of the Tatum, New Mexico supercell when it was 30 miles southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, followed by some scenes of its aftermath approaching Tatum, New Mexico along NM 203.

Active Sunset Sky

2007-03-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Different layers of cloud arrange themselves for bedtime over the upper Rio Grande valley.

Chase Two: Mistakes Were Made

2007-03-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I said that the magnificent supercell I had captured had gone linear. It didn't. It simply reformed a bit to the north and rolled right over Eddy and Lea counties and Tatum, New Mexico, with 2-inch hailstones and a tornado. Several other tornadoes were spotted, none of them by me. I mentally kicked myself for the entire 280-mile drive home last night, out of a total of 668 miles covered on this chase.

Here is the complete photo series of the Tatum supercell, the big one that got away:

This is a close to 2-inch hailstone dropped by this storm on NM Highway 203 between Tatum and Portales, NM.

The result of severe weather. This truck slid off the hail-covered road. The passengers were ok.

The One That Got Away

2007-03-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture showing the rotation of the cell I observed SE of Carlsbad. It continued NE and is still cooking NW of Lovington. I'm stationed a bit north of Hobbs right now waiting on another cell that is presently 35 miles SE of Carlsbad, in just about the same place I encountered the first cell. I'm going to head NNW toward Lovington for the intercept.

Here's a screen capture of Google Earth showing my position and that of the first cell when I took the photograph above.

First SC Spotted

2007-03-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

I'm looking at a FAT rainfree base ESE of Carlsbad. This bad girl is beginning to show signs of rotation in the base. It's still very subtle, but there is structure to this storm. At the very least, it's trying to be a supercell.

Update: She pooped out on me. She was beginning to wind up, and then she began to reform to the NE. As she stands now, she's gone linear.

It Is SO On

2007-03-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in south-mid Eddy County just outside Carlsbad, where there is a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch. Unfortunately, it's a bit hazy and there are lots of clouds, making it difficult to discern supercell signatures. I'm going to head toward Hobbs on 62/180 to wait at the southeastern corner of Eddy County and hope something passes between my position and Carlsbad.

Chase One: The Epilouge

2007-03-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

I left Shamrock yesterday with no supercells spotted, but I did gain a bit of experience, like learning that not all chasers are as happy to see other chasers as I am. On the other hand, the equipment turned out to work quite well. It's a blast to be able to sit on the side of the road in your vehicle and be online.

Regardless of the fact this chase was mostly a bust, I love the long distance driving, made all the more so by the fact I live one state to the west of most of the action. I just wish gas was cheaper right now. The total distance driven on this chase was 862 miles.

Here's a bit of weather I did see yesterday. These cells were east and southeast of Amarillo, Texas.

So now on to tomorrow's chase, which will start in Roswell, New Mexico and points probably south and east. At least it begins in the same state I live in. I'll try to update the blog from the road again. Hopefully with the low passing overhead, a bit more robust activity is on the menu.

Greetings from Shamrock, TX

2007-03-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

This may be a dead armadillo, but I'm feeling pretty skunked right now. Outside a very few cirrus clouds very south of here, there's nothing happening in the sky except the hot Texas sun. All the action is up north, making today's chase pretty much a bust. The guy at the Shell station in Canadian, TX, recommended waiting until dusk. He was feeling a storm coming in his bones. I'm going to wait here until late afternoon, but the way it looks now, I came out to chase a few days too early.

Update: Convection is starting to fire (barely) along the dry line north of Shamrock. I've pulled off U.S. 62 to watch and make a time lapse study after I was rudely rejected by a couple of chasers waiting in the parking lot at MacDonald's. I guess I'll never get to be one of the cool kids.

The dynamics are looking quite meager at the moment. This may be a bust, but at least there are clouds in the sky now.

Breakfast in Beaver, OK

2007-03-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

After spending the night in Guymon, OK, I made it to Beaver this morning. Unfortunately, all the action is a long ways north at this time, too far out of range for this excursion. I see nothing firing around here, so I'm going to head south to Childress, TX, where one of the Stormtrack guys has set up.

This trip may be a bust, but Ativata is singing on the roads and all the telemetry gear is working perfectly. Oklahoma has awesome Sprint PCS coverage. I've been in the middle of nowhere with 3-4 bars of signal strength.

Introducing Ativata

2007-03-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here she is, my chase vehicle for 2007. I've rechristened my truck Ativata (ahh-tee-vAA-ta), which is Sanskrit for "storm wind." I'm on my way to Beaver, OK. It's a bit south of where the Stormtrack guys think the action may arise tomorrow, but it's much more within range of New Mexico.

Hopefully we'll catch an earth-scraper with a tornado or two while avoiding any baseball-sized hail. Stay tuned tomorrow.

First Chase This Tuesday

2007-03-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

The Storm Prediction Center is calling for severe thunderstorms well within range this Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm going to leave Monday night to position myself somewhere in TX or OK, depending on where the forecast resolves to.

I'll have my 12" Apple Powerbook G4 with net access by tethered Samsung M610 cell phone. I'm using Google Earth Plus with a Garmin Etrex Legend C GPS and importing .kmz files from the NWS. It's a pretty slick set up for a $20.00 piece of software.

Hopefully I'll get lucky and see a ground-scraping monster like this.

The Sun's Secret Rainbow

2007-03-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

03/13/2007 @ dusk
Today the sun revealed the secret rainbow it carries around with it. Hopefully a harbinger of good things to come. Looking toward the Jemez mountains and Los Alamos, NM, out over the upper Rio Grande valley.

Late Winter High Desert Sunset

2007-03-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

03/07/2007 @ dusk
The sun appears to be crawling up the Jemez Mountains toward Los Alamos, New Mexico with every subsequent sunset.

Branding This Year's Chase

2007-03-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

I'm gearing up for this year's storm chasing season. I'll be liveblogging from Tornado Alley where it intersects New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas. This logo is going on the side of my chase rig.

Midwinter Sunset Glow

2007-02-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

02/02/2007 @ dusk
The famous "Blood of Christ" red glow on the frosted Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Tesuque Peak behind Santa Fe, New Mexico.

First Big Dump

2006-12-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

12/20/2006 @ 09:04:38 AM MST
Finally, our first big dump. Six dense inches on the ground from .27 inches of moisture with more falling. We probably won't get to the 16 inches I predicted, but any snow is good snow and we surely need it after the rather dry Fall we had.

Sundogged Sunset

2006-10-23T18:32:00.001-07:00

10/23/2006 @ 5:50:16 - 7:02:18 PM MDT
Incoming cirrus spreading in front of an approaching low resulted in this sundogged sunset. I rushed home from work to capture the event, but only managed to grab its tail.

Bloody Mountains

2006-10-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

10/10/2006 @ 5:44:02 - 7:11:06 PM MDT
Today's sunset reflected off Tesuque Peak in the southern Sangre de Cristo mountains. You can see why they're called the Blood of Christ.

Another Autumn Sunset

2006-10-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

10/04/2006 @ 6:23:07 - 7:32:10 PM MDT
More autumn sunset fun.

Autumn Sunset

2006-10-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

10/02/2006 @ 6:20:56 - 7:39:59 PM MDT
A nice October sunset over the Jemez as a front clips the northwest corner of the state.

It's Always the Same

2006-09-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

09/21/2006 @ 6:44:13 - 7:58:17 PM MDT
Every day, the sun sets over the Jemez.

Late Summer Snow

2006-09-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

09/21/2006 @ 03:56:38 PM MDT
It's still summer and yet last night it snowed. NOAA climate projections are calling for a wet winter with near normal temperatures. After last winter's lack of moisture, this is very welcome news for the flora, fauna and those of us who live to ski.

Light Hole

2006-09-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

09/20/2006 @ 06:23:48 PM MDT
The sky opens up on a thunderstorm's rain shaft over Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Storm School

2006-09-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

I've recently met a young meteorologist online who is happy to answer my questions about how the atmosphere works. Today she gave a quick online seminar about theta-e ridges:

Theta-e is also called potential temperature. Essentially it means if you squeezed all the moisture out of the air, (as a result you would gain latent heat energy), what would the new temperature be. If you have two air masses that are the same temperature, the one with more humidity would therefore have a higher potential temperature. Technical version here: On a skew-T log-P find the LCL and follow the moist adiabat up until the dry and moist adiabat lines are running parallel then follow the dry adiabat back down to the 1000mb line.

Theta-e maps serve two purposes. First, we can compare air masses that may be at different sea-levels. Temperatures at sea-level are obviously going to be warmer than temperatures in Denver, a mile higher. So you drop Denver down to the same level [where] you're comparing apples to apples.

The second purpose of a theta-e chart would be to show warm air advection (WAA) and cold air advection (CAA). Assuming no outside force (convection, frontal passage, etc) a parcel of air will actually follow its theta-e boundaries because essentially, theta-e is density. A less dense parcel will ride up over a more dense parcel (warm air over cold air).

So why are theta-e ridges important? Because when combined with confluence and difluence they show you where you're going to get serious convection...ie: tornadoes, snow storms, etc.

Sunset and Moonrise

2006-09-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

09/08/2006 @ 6:44:26 - 8:23:28 PM MDT
The sun sets once again over the Jemez on what was a stormy day...

09/08/2006 @ 8:35:40 - 9:39:40 PM MDT
...and then the moon rises over the Sangre de Christos, occluded for the most part by the day's left over moisture..

Sunset Showers

2006-09-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

09/05/2006 @ 7:08:52 - 8:11:55 PM MDT
Showers move in at sunset over the Jemez mountains behind Los Alamos, NM, in the northwest flow that's dominating our atmosphere right now.

Wet Summer Sunset

2006-09-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

09/03/2006 @ 06:57:44 - 8:24:47 PM MDT
There's been a lot of moisture in the atmosphere this summer. Dewpoints have stayed in the 50s for much of the past few months. While it didn't rain today, the moisture in transit painted another decent sunset over the Jemez.

The Front at Sunset

2006-09-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

09/01/2006 @ 07:29:35 - 8:41:41 PM MDT
A cold front rolls down the upper Rio Grande valley at sunset.

Supercell Sunday (Sorta)

2006-08-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

The NWS Albuquerque office and the NWS Storm Prediction Center were calling for possible severe thunderstorms in extreme northeast New Mexico on Sunday, so I loaded up my camera and the dogs in the truck and drove 228 miles to Texline, Texas, to do a little storm chasing. There was scattered but loosely organized convection all being lit from the front as we approached from the west, so not a lot of detail could be discerned in the storms.

08/27/2006 @ 06:08:35 PM MDT
But when I turned around to head home, we hit the jackpot. I decided to take a different route than the way in, one which took us westbound on highway 56 through Clayton, Gladstone and Springer, New Mexico. It just so happened that three much more organized storms were cooking right above this highway. The storm above was the first one we encountered. It had a serious looking downdraft that I didn't want to core punch, but it looked so promising that we headed straight for it. I've posted larger photos of these storms here.

08/27/2006 @ 06:29:50 PM MDT
As we moved closer, the storm really started to show its true colors. I began to note many features common to mesocyclones, including a rain-free base, clear evidence of rotation, scud clouds and what looks like a detached tail cloud. I became very excited as I concluded I was observing my first supercell thunderstorm in the wild, but a check with Keith Hayes of the Albuquerque NWS office reveals otherwise:

Nice job on capturing these very interesting illustrations of weak or small thunderstorms exhibiting key rotational signatures which you have correctly identified. I would be hesitant to call these true supercells. The features are there but the scale and intensity of the updrafts are well below the supercell category.

The storms never intensified to become true super cells, but you are seeing key features that would be evident if they had evolved into the much strong storm stage. Obviously some favorable wind shear (directional turning with increasing height) is evident, especially in the lower levels, but the environment is limiting the scale and intensity of the updrafts.

It's surprising how well defined some of the features are shown (the inflow band, the base of the updraft, the banding that indicates the rotation, the small roll cloud). However, the steroid version of the updrafts seems to be the key that is lacking.

08/27/2006 @ 06:32:15 PM MDT
This is a roll cloud that was associated with this first storm.

08/27/2006 @ 06:44:55 PM MDT
Storm one's rainbow after passing under the trailing end of the downdraft.

08/27/2006 @ 06:59:46 PM MDT
As I continued west on 56, we encountered another rotating thunderstorm, this one with an extremely long inflow band, another characteristic of a mesocyclone. It sat right over the highway but wasn't producing much precipitation.

08/27/2006 @ 07:22:41 PM MDT
Looking east toward Texas and a large storm partially occluded by cell 2's inflow band.

08/27/2006 @ 07:29:23 PM MDT
An even bigger storm in west Texas lit by the setting sun.

08/27/2006 @ 07:21:26 PM MDT
Finally, another compact thunderstorm showing evidence of rotation. This one didn't appear to be much of a rainer.

08/27/2006 @ 07:21:14 PM MDT
A close-up of what could be described as a negative or reverse anvil.

A Few From This Week

2006-08-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

08/26/2006 @ 06:38:26 PM MDT
A backlit pulse over Los Alamos.

08/25/2006 @ 06:56:26 PM MDT
This was a discrete single-cell pulse thunderstorm 40 minutes beforehand.

08/20/2006 @ 06:56:26 PM MDT
A partially occluded rainbow.

Round Two

2006-08-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

08/23/2006 @ 07:31:30 - 07:47:29 PM MDT
08/24/2006 @ 06:32:06 - 08:04:06 PM MDT
There are normally two rounds of convection during monsoon conditions in northern New Mexico. This was the second round from the last two days' late afternoon convection over the Sangre de Cristo mountains northeast of Tesuque Peak.

A Few Rainbows and the Sun's Bow

2006-08-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

08/18/2006 @ 06:23:54 PM MDT
Barn swallows pinwheel in front of tonight's first rainbow.

08/18/2006 @ 07:18:12 PM MDT
Rainbow number 2.

08/18/2006 @ 07:22:58 - 8:28:00 PM MDT
And the sun takes its bow.

Searchlight Sunset

2006-08-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

08/16/2006 @ 07:29:35 - 8:54:37 PM MDT
The predicted heavy rain never materialized today, perhaps helping to make the sunset so spectacular tonight.

Tower in the Valle

2006-08-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

08/13/2006 @ 11:45:48 AM MDT
A towering cumulus rumbles with thunder northeast of the Valle Toledo in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

A Short Life in Convection

2006-08-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

08/12/2006 @ 01:36:13 - 03:05:15 PM MDT
I'm going to speculate that it was a lack of cool air aloft that prevented this updraft from really cooking. If anyone knows differently, please let me know what you think.

Update: I now know it was a layer of warmer air above the convection that inhibited further development.

Another Sunset Over The Jemez

2006-08-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

08/11/2006 @ 06:53:09 - 08:29:09 PM MDT
No convection tonight, but the sky was very active nonetheless.

A Typical New Mexico Evening

2006-08-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

08/10/2006 @ 05:42:49 - 06:20:50 PM MDT
Outflow from a thunderstorm over Pecos, New Mexico, crawls over the Sangre de Christo mountains and Santa Fe.

08/10/2006 @ 06:24:48 - 07:13:49 PM MDT
A fairly substantial thunderstorm blossoms a bit west-southwest of Taos, New Mexico, with a decent backhanging anvil.

08/10/2006 @ 07:17:38 - 08:09:37 PM MDT
Today's sunset reflected against an approaching thunderstorm over Espanola, New Mexico.

08/09/2006 @ 08:42:28 PM MDT
Lightning over Espanola and Pojoaque, New Mexico.

08/09/2006 @ 08:44:35 PM MDT

08/09/2006 @ 08:50:01 PM MDT

08/09/2006 @ 08:50:32 PM MDT

08/09/2006 @ 08:55:42 PM MDT

08/09/2006 @ 09:00:57 PM MDT

08/09/2006 @ 09:03:07 PM MDT

The Whole Storm Story

2006-08-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

08/09/2006 @ 06:32:47 PM MDT
Some nice convection kicked up in the early evening over the Rio Grande valley between White Rock and Pojoaque, NM.

08/09/2006 @ 06:38:12 - 06:54:51 PM MDT
The storm's approach makes this a short movie. Just under a quarter-inch of rain fell after the 27-mph gust front passed.

08/09/2006 @ 07:32:50 PM MDT
Once the storm moved on and sun came back out hanging low in the west, I knew the result would be an insanebow.

08/09/2006 @ 07:33:00 PM MDT

08/09/2006 @ 07:37:00 PM - 08:39:29 PM MDT
Finally, the debris clouds and a bit of additional convection provide the sunset show over the Rio Grande valley in northern New Mexico.

Classic Examples

2006-08-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

07/26/2006 @ 02:04:44 PM MDT
A classic example of a multi-cell thunderstorm working its way west north of Los Alamos, NM.

07/26/2006 @ 02:03:05 PM MDT
Outflow from a dissipated storm on the east slope of the Sangre de Christo mountains begins to invade Santa Fe on the west slope.

Evening Convection

2006-08-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

08/08/2006 @ 06:09:27 - 08:22:29 PM MDT
Evening convection fires up about 50 miles southeast of my backyard.

A Tropical Sunset in NM

2006-08-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

08/01/2006 @ 06:19:18 - 09:21:05 PM MDT
With dew points in the 60s for most of afternoon, northern New Mexico was looking rather tropical today.

Mushroom Clouds

2006-07-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

07/26/2006 @ 01:02:15 PM MDT

07/26/2006 @ 01:02:32 PM MDT

Light winds aloft and steep lapse rates caused by cold air aloft capped by a warm inversion layer join forces to create some spectacular cumulonimbi around Santa Fe.

Moving Along the Interstate

2006-07-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

07/17/2006 @ 05:51:15 - 08:30:49 PM MDT
This convection moved west along the north side of Interstate 40 between Clines Corner and Albuquerque between 6 and 8 tonight. It was moving in the blind spot of ABX and out of range of FDX, which is where I collected the radar images.

Orographic Daytime Heating

2006-07-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

07/15/2006 @ 10:37:07 AM - 01:54:10 PM MDT
Daytime heating over the Jemez mountains. The cells were moving SSW. At a certain point it looks like the atmosphere stabilized and the east slope lost its juice.

Distant Lightning

2006-07-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

07/14/2006 @ 09:24:21 PM MDT
This lightning occurred about 40 miles due south from my location in this cropped photograph. I used a 5-second exposure, ƒ-stop 2.7 and ISO 200 on my Canon S3 IS.

The Cloud Train

2006-07-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

07/10/2006 @ 07:23:20 - 08:04:19 PM MDT
I'm not sure what caused this convection to line up, but there definitely wasn't enough of it to generate precipitation.

Over the Top

2006-06-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

10/05/2004 @ 06:24:24 PM MDT
These overshooting tops are a good indication there was severe weather under this storm over Los Alamos, NM.

An Almost Perfect Day

2006-06-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

06/26/2004 @ 10:43:33 AM MDT
This convection was quite vigorous quite early in the day. But without a bit of wind to push the downdraft away from the updraft, these cells quickly drowned themselves and dissipated.

Treasure in the Debris

2006-06-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

06/06/2006 @ 08:03:48 PM MDT
The aftermath of daytime heating during the monsoon is what makes New Mexico skies so enchanting. A classically beautiful New Mexico sunset owes its existence to the fact that daytime convection usually breaks up when the heat source is removed. This results in a myriad of different forms of debris clouds. They and the sun are the paint, the sky is the canvas and the painters are the various outflows and air currents.

Most of these photos were taken off my back porch area looking west toward the Jemez mountains and Los Alamos, NM, except where otherwise noted.

06/24/2005 @ 08:11:34 PM MDT

06/14/2005 @ 08:15:21 PM MDT

05/25/2005 @ 08:17:27 PM MDT
This photo was taken just west of Socorro, NM.

04/25/2005 @ 07:39:30 PM MDT

08/06/2004 @ 07:25:48 PM MDT
This is looking southeast toward the Ortiz mountains.

07/10/2004 @ 08:29:48 PM MDT

06/19/2004 @ 08:24:47 PM MDT.

06/19/2004 @ 08:26:04 PM MDT

Camera Failure

2006-06-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm deeply regretting not having a working camera at the moment. A beautiful squall line is meandering down the Rio Grande valley, north to south in a huge bow wave, the gust front forming a delicate "s" stretching from the Sangres to the Jemez. It would have been my best capture yet.

Classic Anvil

2006-06-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

07/17/2005 @ 12:38:32 PM MDT
Seen from the Wheeler Peak ridge, north of the peak looking west. I wish I would have climbed to the top of the ridge to get a better shot.

Weak Convection over the Ortiz

2006-06-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

06/24/2006 @ 12:40:25 - 2:49:58 PM MDT
Convection tries to fire over the Ortiz mountains along Highway 14 between Santa Fe and Cedar Crest.

Strong Cells over the Pecos River

2006-06-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

06/23/2006 @ 6:40 - 8:19 PM MDT
This strong line of cells formed southeast of the Pecos River and eventually stretched all the way to Santa Rosa.

Severe Precip in the Pecos Valley

2006-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

06/22/2006 @ 4:13:09 PM MDT
I rushed toward Las Vegas at about 3:00 PM on June 22, 2006 when I saw the severe thunderstorm warning boxes go up on FDX. There were two cells forming. I stopped about 10 miles south of Las Vegas on northbound I-25 and watched the more northerly cell. Not much happened there. Meanwhile, the cell I passed starting going off. I turned around and headed back through the precip shaft. It seemed like it was falling at a rate well over three inches per hour with some nickel-sized hail.

Clouds of the Beast?

2006-06-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

06/06/2006 @ Appx. 5:30 - 6:00 PM MDT
Leaving work at 5:00 on June 6, 2006, I immediately noticed a circular-looking structure I thought might be a wall cloud. I rushed home and made this short time-lapse movie which shows some rotation. But Keith Hayes at NWS ABQ explained why it was more likely outflow turbulence:

Overall the atmospheric conditions yesterday were not favorable to producing a deep layer mesocyclone or rotating updraft. Generally the convection that supports a mesocyclone is many thousands of feet thick (typically 20,000+), but more importantly we have to have a strongly sheared vertical wind profile (the winds both change in direction clockwise and increase in speed with height).

Yesterday's situation favored elevated or high based and rather shallow convection and this can often lead to very turbulent situations and lots of swirling cloud. The vertical wind profile was rather disorganized (wind directions and speed were not consistent with height) and not a model for the classical mesocyclone signature profile.

Los Alamos Under A Fairy Curtain

2006-06-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

06/09/2006 @ 7:02:56 PM MDT
I'm not sure if this is light precip or an extension of the clouds.

Being Enchanted by the Skies of Northern NM

2006-06-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

11/15/2003 @ Appx. 11:30 AM MST
Three years ago, I ended up renting a small adobe home with a million dollar view near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since a young age I've been inordinately fascinated by the weather. 20 years in California dulled the jones, but moving to New Mexico brought it back with a vengeance. My recent purchase of a camera with an intervalometer and my joining the ranks of SKYWARN weather spotters has sealed my fate as an unrepentant weather geek. I'll post photos, time-lapse movies and video of the weather and also some of the sunsets over the Jemez mountains as I encounter them.