Roswell, NM Supercell 9-16-2011.

Click On The Photos To See What Happens.

Jennifer Tucker, who is the daughter of Chaves

County Skywarn Coordinator Jim Tucker in Roswell,

 NM, shot this at 3:30 PM MDT 9-16-2011. She

  was looking SE from Sunset St & the Relief Route

in Roswell. 

The Albuquerque NWS Office issued

a Tornado Warning on this storm that was valid

from 2:23 PM - 3:00 PM MDT. The white streak in 

the middle of the photo is likely the hail shaft.

I was on my way up to Artesia for a meeting, when I snapped

this photo from 7 miles south of town on US Hwy 285 at 2:43 

PM MDT. I was  looking north, and took the photo from inside

of my car while driving down the road.

This second shot was taken a few seconds later. I just

zoomed in a little closer to try and get a better view of 

the rain free base on the southwest side of the storm.


There was a nice flanking line of new cells going up on
the western edge of the storm. I did observe one ragged
wall cloud develop underneath the rain free base shortly
before 3 PM. This wall cloud did not last long and did not 
produce a tornado as far as I am aware of. Other spotters
in Chaves County did observe a funnel cloud earlier.

 This was a low-topped, high-based supercell

thunderstorm. We typically can see quite a few 

of them in the late summer or early fall here in SE NM.

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!