Hail in Harding County, New Mexico

Golf ball size hail from a severe thunderstorm was observed in southern Harding County northwest of Ute Lake State Park.

A disturbance embedded within upper level ridging along with higher surface moisture moving westward from Texas resulted in the development of thunderstorms in far northeast NM during the early afternoon hours. These storms became severe in northern Union County during the mid afternoon hours drifting southeast over east central Union County into the Texas Panhandle. One of these storms produced a brief tornado just southwest of Mount Dora along with quarter to golf ball size hail. Colliding outflow boundaries resulted in the development of new storms in far eastern Harding County and far southern Union County. These storms drifted south just west of the NM/TX state line during the evening hours dropping quarter to golf ball size hail and producing damaging winds gusts of up to 70 mph. The storms also caused flash flooding when moving through Clovis. Storms exited Roosevelt County into the Texas South Plains shortly before midnight local time.

Key Words: Tornado, Hail, Thunderstorm Wind Gust, Flash Flood.