June 5, 2003

june 5, 2003
shelf cloud over the caprock canyon

Today would be our last day of chasing as I needed to be back in Norman for work the next day. We meandered around the Clovis area for most of the afternoon waiting for initiation. By late afternoon, we saw on radar that clusters of storms had fired along an impressive late season front (49F at Clayton NM at 4pm!) from east central New Mexico to northwestern Oklahoma. Figuring we were just going to have a big MCS on our hands, we decided to head back to Norman at 5pm MDT. After all, it wasn't like what we would see in Texas and Oklahoma would be much different from what we saw in New Mexico, and there was an excellent chance we would encounter the MCS at SOME point on the way back. Well we sure did cross paths with the MCS on the way back, and I can't think of a more scenic spot to encounter a rapidly advancing shelf cloud than where we did.....

Jay's hood resembled a lunar landscape after last night's 35+ minute hail encounter.

A broken mirror signals the beginning of 7 years of bad luck for chasing. Well at least we know what that's like - all we've had in 7 years of chasing is bad luck!

The electrical tower provides a shocking (pun intended) reference as to how big the dust devil to its left really is.

We noticed Roger Hill's van in this parking lot in Clovis, which almost made us reconsider leaving this area......

......but with surface winds out of the south, stratocumulus moving in from the west, and a cold surge barrelling down from the north, we ended up leaving anyway, ending up near Silverton TX shortly after 8pm CDT. Jay found a high vista overlooking the Caprock Canyon, where we faced what was at first a dull, featureless sky. Then seemingly out of nowhere, this thing came over the western horizon. Following are a series of video captures taken as the shelf cloud rapidly swept over the reddish canyon.

Below are my attempts at making a panoramic image. This was not easy considering the shelf cloud was moving forward at about 45 mph!!!

Go on to the next page.

Jay's hood resembled a lunar landscape after last night's 35+ minute hail encounter.
	A broken mirror signals the beginning of 7 years of bad luck for chasing. Well at least we know what that's like - all we've had in 7 years of chasing is bad luck!
The electrical tower provides a shocking (pun intended) reference as to how big the dust devil to its left really is.
	We noticed Roger Hill's van in this parking lot in Clovis, which almost made us reconsider leaving this area......
......but with surface winds out of the south, stratocumulus moving in from the west, and a cold surge barrelling down from the north, we ended up leaving anyway, ending up near Silverton TX shortly after 8pm CDT. Jay found a high vista overlooking the Caprock Canyon, where we faced what was at first a dull, featureless sky. Then seemingly out of nowhere, this thing came over the western horizon. Following are a series of video captures taken as the shelf cloud rapidly swept over the reddish canyon.