Supercells and Lightning | Logan to Wheatland, New Mexico | 25 May 2023

Published on May 25, 2023

The setup this day was practically a targeting mirror of the day before. We set up again between Logan and Gallegos to watch convection develop on the mesas north of Tucumcari. This time, the developing convection to the west put on a better structure show early on than what we experienced the previous day.

As our storm went through a split, another one, right on the north edge of Tucumcari started building. This was where I was expecting to move with time, so we left our north option and headed south. We had to cut through the developing forward flank on the new cell to get south. I hoped we were early enough to avoid large hail, but figured it was worth the windshield risk. We had maybe quarters at max on the way through and emerged on the other side to a fantastically sculpted, round base. I was beside myself, excited by how perfect it was. And the sun was getting ready to dip down and light it up. I wanted to get a great foreground to compliment it, but time was of the essence and the main priorities had to be No Power Lines™ followed by minimal trashiness. We ran across some decent fields that fit the need.

As the sun dipped below the clouds, it threw beautiful, warm light across a tongue of RFD cutting through the base. After shooting a load of images to grab HDR and panorama options, we repositioned a bit southeast to keep ahead of its slow drift. The base started to elongate as the light softened while RFD and scud painted fanciful forms with the trees and shrubs.

As blue hour deepened, the lightning and color kept throwing out new, stunning views. We made another trip through Apache Canyon after full dark. I tried setting up for shots at the top of the canyon but quickly realized the ongoing traffic and headlights weren’t going to work.

We repositioned further east and watched as the storm flickered away, latching onto a boundary and spinning like a titanic gear. Compared to the menacing beast the day before, this was so slow moving and predictable from a positioning standpoint, it was a treat to just take it easy and take it in. My main regret is that I did not position a couple miles further east to get a better perspective on the tower with less interference from a pesky inflow band. A really a minor gripe though.

After enjoying the seemingly endless light show, we headed back west to rest for the night. On the way, another supercell revealed itself and demanded attention.