Hail — Otero, Colorado

2024-05-30 · near La Junta, Otero, Colorado

Event narrative

Trained spotter reported mostly pea size hail, with quarter size mixed in.

Wider weather episode

A very dynamic pattern within a longwave trough allowed for a series of major shortwave troughs to propagate over Colorado. This allowed for several days of severe thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms were fueled by the conditionally unstable environment with sufficient forcing, high amounts of mid-level moisture, high levels of buoyancy (CAPE), steep lapse rates, and effective bulk shear. This resulted in reports of large hail (in excess of 2 inches), severe wind gusts of greater than 50 kts, and even a few land spouts/funnel clouds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9800, -103.5400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1185674. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.