{"id":21969,"date":"2018-05-22T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T08:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=21969"},"modified":"2018-11-04T11:08:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T19:08:23","slug":"may-22-2018-alpine-texas-supercell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2018\/05\/22\/may-22-2018-alpine-texas-supercell\/","title":{"rendered":"May 22, 2018 Alpine, Texas Supercell"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Start: \u00a0Roswell, NM<\/p>\n

Lunch: \u00a0Artesia\/Henry’s BBQ<\/p>\n

End: \u00a0Alpine, TX<\/p>\n

373 miles<\/p>\n

SPC Day One 20Z<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 492<\/a><\/p>\n

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SPC was not particularly keen on supercell prospects today, with a marginal risk of severe storms in place for eastern NM and western and southwestern TX. \u00a0 I don’t recall my morning weather briefing to the tour group in Roswell, but when we started out of Roswell (after a visit to an alien museum), we were going towards the northeast, towards Portales. \u00a0Bob Smith recalls that I may have been looking at the Raton Mesa and Clayton area. \u00a0 But after looking at some additional forecast information late morning, I had Bob Smith turn us around some 10 miles out of Roswell. \u00a0The severe weather prospects appeared to be better to our south, down towards Pecos and Saragosa. \u00a0I think that CAMs were persistent in showing a big supercell near I-10, and forecast bulk shear values in that region were not bad at all.<\/p>\n

We had a decent BBQ lunch in Artesia and continued southbound through the busy and heavy-traffic mess of the Orla, TX, oilfield area. \u00a0There is even a big truck stop\/convenience store now at Orla! \u00a0This used to be the Outer Boondocks of Nowhere, but now thousands of white pickup trucks and oil trucks are clogging the highway. \u00a0It can be a nightmare if you are passing through and trying to quickly get to a storm. \u00a0Fortunately, the storm development to our south, near Saragosa, would not get strong until we arrived.<\/p>\n

A strong storm was just south of I-10, near Balmorhea. \u00a0Which way would it move? \u00a0The road network here is pathetic, so it was important to make the right road choice. \u00a0A hail core was near Toyahvale (SW of Balmorhea), but I figured that we wanted to be south of Toyahvale. \u00a0Into the core we went. \u00a0The radar suggested that the hail might be larger than one-inch in diameter, but we saw just nickels and dimes and a lot of heavy rain. \u00a0We emerged unscathed, and stopped along Route 17 about ten miles south of Toyahvale. \u00a0The strong storm, now to our north, had a decent base and plenty of precipitation. \u00a0It sported a high-based updraft.<\/p>\n

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