Supercells | 31 May 2023 | Melnesand to Kenna, Texas

Published on May 31, 2023

This day held better odds of supercells than the previous couple days and we headed into eastern New Mexico, targeting near Dora where I thought I had identified a boundary for any storms to take advantage of. The chase started out pretty tough, with windblown haze and dust filming the view and storms going up everywhere. A base finally came into view about 15 miles west of Milnesand. A lowering peeked through the haze before getting obscured behind RFD. No tornado reports on that cell, although it was over a mess of sketchy, unpaved roads and probably very few others were in position to have a closer look.

Flooded roads helped keep me in check and not follow garbage into the Texas Panhandle.

I wasn’t sure whether anything would manage to stay sustained in the all the backwash to the west, but another smaller, inbound cell did sport some elevated terrace structure. We checked it out for a bit, near an abandoned house, and then looked for some more vantages on an unpaved road that didn’t seem to be completely soaked.

It eventually crossed to our north, casting a bizarre backdrop across a contemporary homestead. We followed it a bit more before it lost any semblance of interesting structure

Further southwest in the direction of Roswell, another cell was hanging in there and looking a lot healthier. We headed that way on Highway 70, hoping for a shot before it fell apart. On the drive there, the updraft tower and anvil lightning was spectacular. But Hwy 70 was terrible for pull off options with a clear view over all the mesquite. I kept hunting for a spot as we got closer to the beautiful rotating storm, but didn’t find a decent spot in time to capture any of the awesome clear air bolts. It was really frustrating. It still offered up some decent shots as it thinned out and moved off.

After that one, another congealed line moved by to the north with some terraced shelfiness and signed off the chase for the day.