Funnel Cloud in Quay County, New Mexico

The Quay County emergency manager observed a funnel cloud over open farmland near Forrest, New Mexico.

Higher moisture moved into eastern New Mexico early on May 25th behind a backdoor cold front. This added moisture combined with lift ahead of a weakening upper low over Utah resulting in the development of scattered showers and storms along and east of the central mountain chain. Several of these storms became strong to severe with one producing quarter size hail near Tierra Monte in the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and another producing a tornado near Floyd in western Roosevelt County and quarter to ping pong ball size hail between Cannon Air Force Base and downtown Clovis. Storms across eastern New Mexico mostly tapered off around sunset while the convectively enhanced backdoor front pushed west through the gaps of the central mountain chain.

Key Words: Severe Thunderstorm Winds, Large Hail, Tornado, Funnel Cloud.

Another round of showers and storms developed and moved across north central and eastern New Mexico during the afternoon and evening hours of May 26th due to higher surface moisture in place combining with added lift and instability from the upper level disturbance moving overhead. Penny to golf ball size hail was observed at several locations, a brief tornado was observed near Montezuma northeast of Las Vegas, and damaging straight line winds resulted in a flipped and overturned an 18-wheeler trailer near Forrest in southern Quay County. Storms exited east into Texas around sunset.