Hail in Harding County, New Mexico

Several consecutive days of significant severe weather impacted eastern New Mexico from May 24-26, 2023. Showers and thunderstorms developed along the dryline and east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on May 23rd. Storms tracked east and southeast across the eastern plains of New Mexico. Extensive severe weather was reported when these storms encountered greater moisture and lift closer to the Texas border. Hail up to 3.5 inches in diameter, thunderstorm wind gusts of 80 to 90 mph, and three tornados were reported in an area stretching from Union County to Roosevelt County. The largest hail stones and strongest wind gusts focused throughout Curry County during the evening hours. Hail and wind damage was reported in Tucumcari, Grady, and Clovis. Three separate tornadoes were reported in northern Curry County. Thunderstorms also dropped very heavy rainfall of 2 to 4 inches of rain across portions of Quay, De Baca, Curry, and Roosevelt Counties. Urban flooding occurred in Clovis, NM, causing some roads to be closed, and some cars to be stranded. Severe weather continued through the night and into May 25th with numerous reports of large hail, strong winds, and flash flooding. Quay County was particularly hard hit with baseball size hail and torrential rainfall amounts in excess of 5 inches. Significant hail damage was reported across Tucumcari with widespread flooding across the county. Severe wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph were common with these storms with damage reported. Strong to severe storms continued well into the night once again on the 25th with more heavy rainfall around the Caprock. The focus for severe weather shifted farther west on May 26th with large hail and heavy rainfall reported around Torrance County. A tornado and baseball size hail was also reported with a supercell near Encino. This activity spread eastward through the day with large hail, damaging wind gusts, and more torrential rainfall around the Caprock well into the night of May 26th. Three-day rainfall amounts exceeded 6 inches in many parts of Curry and Quay counties.