Hail — San Miguel, New Mexico

2017-08-09 · near Sanchez, San Miguel, New Mexico

Event narrative

Hail up to the size of baseballs reported with supercell storm north of Trementina. This may be the same storm that resulted in a fatal aircraft accident of an elderly man attempting to reach a private air strip in the area.

Wider weather episode

Deep moisture and instability over eastern New Mexico combined with northwest flow aloft to produce scattered strong to severe thunderstorms over the east-central and northeast plains. Several clusters of thunderstorms developed by mid afternoon along the east slopes of the central mountain chain then moved quickly southeastward. A severe thunderstorm that developed over Las Vegas produced damaging baseball size hail mainly over the southeastern quadrant of town. Severe damage was reported to many vehicles. Several other storms that moved across Harding, Mora, and San Miguel counties produced golf ball to baseball size hail. Funnel clouds also accompanied the storms in Las Vegas and near Grenville. Heavy rainfall amounts up to nearly three inches were reported with several storms. A pilot flying from Texas to New Mexico fatally crashed near Trujillo in San Miguel County during the active weather.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.6300, -104.4400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 707833. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.