By the time I got back on the 27th, Jay was finally free to chase, and he had begun asking me over and over if I wanted to take another chase vacation. But with the northwest flow showing no signs of letting up, and the fact I had to go back to work full time for the rest of the summer, it looked like my chase season was over. Then I found out the week after I got back I would only work a half shift that Wednesday (June 4) and would be off that Thursday (June 5). Sure enough, the ridge retrograded that week, putting the Plains under a pattern slightly more favorable for sustained supercells. It was almost like my season was destined to continue! This would probably my last chance to chase this year, and Jay's only chance to chase this year, so we decided to give it a go. On the morning of the 4th, Jay drove up from Austin, and picked me up from work in Norman at 2pm. Based on data I looked at before work that morning, I targeted northeastern New Mexico. A strong surface low was forecast to develop in central New Mexico, with easterly winds transporting moisture up the higher terrain. We were about 7 hours from our target and had 7 hours of daylight left when we left, so we drove straight through without stopping for data. From reports we saw on Jay's TV along the way, we learned of tornado warned storms in east central New Mexico, and after seeing a radar image of these storms we decided to persue them. We made it to Clovis NM right at sunset, with an imposing supercell to our west and northwest rapidly darkening the sky. We tried to head south to Portales to beat the storm there, but got overtaken by the hail core just south of town. As you will see below, attempts to get away from the hail core proved futile, and Jay ended up with a hoodful of craters and a broken rear view mirror to prove it.
Go on to the next page.