11 June 2023
Clayton, NM to Clayton, NM (Part III)
A motorcycle woke me at 5:30 and there was no going back to sleep, but the time was well spent sorting through all the photos from the fabulous day before.
We had our briefing at 9:30 and the expected weather was not far away, so we had time for a sit down brunch at the 87 Restaurant in Clayton that was more than double the price of the Front Porch and wasn’t as good. (The Front Porch is closed on weekends).
We headed west and north out of Clayton and into Colorado towards Trinidad. An early storm was just east of Trinidad and we got as far as Hoehne. We stopped on a back road into some very strong inflow winds, and for a moment, we thought we could see a tornado in the circulation.
We stayed for about twenty minutes then the rain forced us out. We turned around and headed back south with the storm keeping up a nice pace of around 14 knots.
We made several stops including one with a built in viewing platform.
We were picking pebbles out of our shoes for the next hour.
There were dozens of chasers on the roads. Most appeared to be seasoned chasers rather than just locals out to watch.
At one point, it became clear that the storm was dying, so Bill decided to head south towards Tucumcari since it was still only about four in the afternoon. We made one last stop with a great view of the open plain below where the storm crawled along the ground.
We got to Des Moines and Bill decided to look at another system coming from the west. We stopped to watch the cell develop over Black Mesa. Before long, it began to spit out a bit of lightning.
We had a couple bolts hit close enough for instantaneous thunder, so we packed up and headed east. We stopped a couple times hoping for some development but didn’t see much more.
We ended at a railroad.
And we went back to Clayton for yet another night in the Holiday Motel.
This time, we could ask for our favourite rooms.
Bill Reid’s entry for 11 June.
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