04.05.2025: Wichita Falls - Lubbock - Lovington, NM - Kermitt, TX - Monahans, TX (452 miles)
Rating:
|
Today we are heading southwest towards New Am... New Mexico to intercept possible supercells that could
form along the higher terrain due to south-easterly surface winds. After a long drive we arrive in Lovington, NM and spot a developing thunderstorm just west of it:  About 30 Minutes later, it looks more organized and rather well. Thunder begins to rumble:  As it approaches, we head back into town in search for a nice spotting location, at best with a roof for unlimited options. The storm is about to get us:  Some lightning bolts are really loud, we love it:  We follow the storm a few miles east and try to stay in the inflow notch to see what it is doing. Here we look back west and you have the forward flank downdaft on the right. The merciless brutality of the cold air shooting to the left can be seen on this small fractus there. This storm is waaaay too cold, possibly because the cloud base is rather high and the dew points are around 50 degrees F:  Shortly after this image we leave this storm and head south toward Jal, NM and Kermit, TX to meet another cell that was forming near Orla, TX. Now that storm looks even nicer:  The closer it gets, the better structure is becoming visible. Heavy lightning occurs, we stay there and watch, totally mesmerized by what we see:   To be able to get those bolts, we have a rather dark ND64 filter on the camera and shoot with 5 sec aperture time intervalls. Some thunder echoes in our stomachs. I sit in the car most of the time and let the camera outside do its thing:    A time lapse shows the motion of that system. It gives us the long awaited holiday feeling: |