Day 11 - NE New Mexico and Oklahoma Panhandle

SPC Convective Outlook

SPC Tornado Risk

Morning surface analysis

From our hotel in Hobbs (NM) we headed north to Boise City (OK), after lunching in Dalhart (TX). Storms were forecast to fire over the Raton Mesa and head east across NE New Mexico and SE Colorado, eventually pushing into SW Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Holidays are coming! Spotted in Morton (TX)

Big skies, empty roads, line of pylons down one side. This is how I’d always envisaged the Plains would look before I came here for the first time in 2012. 8 years on, still addicted! 😎⚡️🌪

A line of thunderstorms developed to our north and west, and became marginally-severe in a rather pulse-like fashion. We opted to head towards the cell on the southern end of this line, to the west of Clayton (NM) - which en-route became tornado warned, but never produced.

Thunderstorm near Stead (NM)

The cells kept pulsing and back-building so we sat with this line for most of the afternoon, ambling a little north and west at times, listening to the sounds of constant thunder and crickets.

Thunderstorm near Stead (NM)

Thunderstorm near Stead (NM)

Thunderstorm near Stead (NM)

Eventually we headed back east through Clayton (NM) to follow the line of storms as it moved across the Oklahoma Panhandle. We had to drive through one of the storms at one point, which was producing an impressive amount of CG (cloud-to-ground) lightning, before reaching our hotel for the night in Guymon (OK).

Line of thunderstorms to the east of Felt (OK)

CG lightning on the approach to Guymon (OK) - taken on iPhone

GPS Tracker