Carlsbad Dodges A Small But Potent Severe Thunderstorm Wednesday.
(Midland NWS Dual Pol Doppler Radar).
4:53 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
4:57 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:07 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:11 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:16 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:21 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:26 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:31 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
5:36 PM MDT Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
Carlsbad dodged a pretty wicked but relatively small hailstorm for the most part Wednesday afternoon. Using GR2Analyst Software and AllisonHouse Integrated Radar Software I was able to recreate the path and track of the severe thunderstorm that rolled across the city between 4:53 PM MDT and 5:35 PM MDT.
At 4:53 PM the storm was located 11 miles northwest of the city and was crossing the Queen Highway (Hwy 137) as it was moving to the east-southeast. Radar at that time was estimating that the hail in the storm was baseball size.
At 5:11 PM the storm is centered near the junction of US Highway 285 and Loop Rd or 5 miles northwest of downtown. Radar at this time was indicating that the storm was producing hail slightly smaller than tennis ball size. The leading edge of the storm was moving into far northwest Carlsbad.
At 5:11 PM the storm is centered near the junction of US Highway 285 and Loop Rd or 5 miles northwest of downtown. Radar at this time was indicating that the storm was producing hail slightly smaller than tennis ball size. The leading edge of the storm was moving into far northwest Carlsbad.
At 5:16 PM the storm is centered about 4 miles north of town and may have been producing golf ball size hail north of the city in the Lake Avalon area. Western and northwestern Carlsbad is experiencing heavy rains and strong winds at this time.
At 5:21 PM the storm is centered 3 miles north of downtown and is still producing hail possibly as big as golf balls in the vicinity of North Loop Rd. The heaviest rains are located in northern and eastern Carlsbad. It was around this time that reports of pea to quarter size hail was being reported in the La Huerta area and parts of northern Carlsbad.
At 5:31 PM the storm was centered 5 miles northeast of the city and radar indicated that it was still producing hail the size of ping pong balls.
Radar may have been over estimating the size of the hail in the storm a little bit but given the spotter and public reports of golf ball size hail in the Lakewood and Seven Rivers area, but then again maybe not. So far I haven't seen any reports of hail bigger than nickels and quarters in the Carlsbad area during this storm Wednesday afternoon. Based on the radar snapshots above its certainly possibly that the hail northwest, north, and northeast of the city was golf ball size or possibly bigger. This storm gave the city a glancing blow and could have been much worse if it had dropped just a couple more miles to the south.
I posted a blog detailing the severe weather outbreak and rainfall totals across the local area from yesterday's storm earlier today. You can view this blog via this link.
The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!
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