New Mexico Never Disappoints

I first set foot in New Mexico 5 years ago to hike Capulin National Monument on my first chase trip, and as Sunday's chase proved- the Land of Enchantment never disappoints. Yesterday's storms were lookers as opposed to doers, but the group was treated to a high base supercell set in a gorgeous vista. 

The storm formed with the anvil shape and pronounced base typical of the storms we like to see, but the base was too high to produce a wall cloud or tornadic activity. No worries! We disembarked the vans in a valley amongst sporadic, free-roaming herds of cows. I brought out my binoculars and sighted my first ever black-throated sparrow, along with lots of common nighthawks- a species we have at home in Chicago. Locating the source of birdsong with distant thunder in the background was fabulous! We watched our steps carefully in unfamiliar country; no cacti, snakes, or fire ant encounters for this city chick!

I'm particularly pleased with the panoramic view of this storm; it shows how the storm and the terrain in New Mexico compliment each other.

We drove back to Lubbock afterwards, and I've enjoyed a leisurely morning with a workout and time to relax. The environment looks more favorable for storms today, and our target is relatively local. I believe today will be the last chase day of the trip before an inactive severe weather pattern sets in. 

Inner Peace and Profound Joy

I have two days to log, since yesterday the tour group was reveling a little too hard and too late for me to find the energy to write. This is a good thing; it has given me more time to process the incredible day yesterday was.

We departed Lubbock at mid-morning, and drove down to the Ft. Stockton area, with breaks in-between for lunch and to tighten up the game plan. I realized that I was wearing the same shirt I had been wearing when I saw my first tornado in 2018- a good omen. As the land approaches the Rio Grande, the topography becomes more hilly in and around the Davis Mountains. Our storm was born hugging the Mexican border, meandering southeastward as we attempted to navigate a road network that wasn't in our favor...but the setup was! As we navigated into position, all of the variables aligned in a perfect, brief, fierce tornado- over open land. It stuck around just long enough for us to holler and cheer as a group, disembark from the vans, and take confirmation photos before it ascended from whence it came.

 

AND THEN THE STORM DID IT AGAIN. We had just enough time to reposition to a more favorable location while the circulation re-cycled, producing a cone that lasted just a little longer than its predecessor. The group was on top of the moon! As the storm wound down and regrouped, we relocated several times in hope of a tornadic hat trick, and a feeling of profound inner peace came over me. 

My first chase storms in 2018 produced such profound adrenaline rushes that I found myself shaking with cold and feelings in a Woodward, OK hotel room (as mentioned in a previous blog post). This time, in a van with several new and great friends and a perfect two-fer under our belts, I wasn't high on adrenaline- I felt unadulterated contentment. I wasn't hungry or thirsty, I wasn't worried about any other immediate physical needs, I was physically, mentally, and emotionally good. I was doing what I loved with other people who were experiencing the same elation, in the company of trusted experts. There was a sense of camaraderie, safety and security (we were ~15 miles from these tornadoes). 

All of the ingredients and variables needed to produce a thunderstorm mixed well. The meteorological requirements for tornado formation came together. Only 1 in 1000 thunderstorms produces a tornado.  Down from the ceiling of the clouds, a perfect supercell briefly swirled its vortex fingers into the dusty, scrubby nothingness of far southwest Texas. I was in the right place, at the right time, to watch this force of nature steadily emerge and depart, with grace. 

 

As we made our way back to Ft. Stockton in search of celebratory Mexican food, I reflected upon things that have changed in the past 3 years since I saw my first tornado in 2018; I'm a homeowner, I've made a job shift- other things that I described in the first blog entry pertaining to this tour- and I have already accomplished my childhood dream of seeing a tornado. My Memorial Day storm was really just a bonus. I leaned into the feeling of inner peace and joy that had originated with a turbulent, sometimes devastating meteorological phenomenon that had caused no damage or harm. We headed back to town, and I had a celebratory margarita at Pepito's Cafe as the sun set on what was truly one of the best days of my adult life.

I'll write about today's ramblings in southeastern New Mexico tomorrow, so keep an eye out for another update before noon. Time for bed!

Late Night From Lubbock

 The word of the day is "structure." Storms have structure- and today was the best day in terms of storm aesthetics that I've seen (confession: I may say that every time, but I regret nothing!).

We began our early day with a 6 hour drive south from Denver through to Roswell. I love New Mexico; in terms of scenic vistas, the gradual lowering of elevation from Colorado to New Mexico was great- but New Mexico has been good to me on all 3 of my chase trips. We caught up with our first storm, southeast of Roswell, later in the afternoon. 

The first storm was tornado warned, although this can be deceptive with the messy storm setup I mentioned in my last entry; there were a lot of maybenadoes, and this storm had a whole lot of dust to kick up into its circulation. We didn't see anything pronounced- but there a few moments of profound excitement.

As storm 1 waned, it was absorbed into storm 2- which showed off a lovely structure. After we relocated ~15-20 miles to witness storm 2, I took a few minutes to listen to Roger lecture on storm structure (I adore the opportunity to listen to an expert wax academic about supercell thunderstorms!), and take a reunited selfie with one of our drivers- Bill- whom I met on my first trip, 5 years ago. Two lovely gents for sure!

 

Storm 2 put up a beautifully striated structure (below) before waning down, and the group migrated to Lubbock for the night, accompanied by flashes of lightning.

I am grateful to have had such an exciting, jam-packed first day of chasing- but after little sleep last night and today's adventure, I'm looking forward to resting well and getting up early to work out. I'm glad I was wrong about ending up in Amarillo tonight- it's pretty great to be wrong for a good reason. Tomorrow looks like the atmosphere will be even better than today, and we will either play in south Texas or back in New Mexico. Either way, I'm one happy chaser!

This Doesn't Look Like Kansas

 ...Because it's Colorado! Arriving in Denver for the first time since 2012 was like:

There are so many topics I find myself mulling over on my first long distance trip since COVID began:

• Whoa, I haven't been on an escalator for how long?
• There are no lines at O'Hare security- is this real?
• I forgot United serves stroopwaffels and I. FREAKING. LOVE. STROOPWAFFELS.
• I haven't been here since I graduated from my Masters in Nonprofit Management program in 2012, holy moly!
  
• On the drive from the Denver airport to my hotel- I missed the sky. 

I love my Chicago city life- but it's so open and refreshing to be in a new place. The feeling of walking into a crisp, disinfected hotel room also feels strange (AND they serve cookies when you check in!).

Maybe I'm just having a lot of strong feelings about cookies today. That's fine too. 

 Upon arrival I saw that there is no evening orientation because the crew is out chasing- considering the convective outlook for today, I'm not surprised. Roger wants us ready at 7:30a.m. tomorrow morning, which translates to a whole lot of driving. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) outlook for tomorrow and Monday have me thinking we'll be straddling the Texas/New Mexico border for the next 2 days; the areas I am most familiar from chasing on prior trips. There are slight risks- that's level 3 on a 6 point severity scale- of storms. I don't think Sunday and Monday will be all about tornadoes, so I'm hoping for good storm structure and maybe some western US bird species I haven't seen in awhile. 

 Tonight I'm meeting my fabulous cousins for dinner at a brewpub- my idea of a good vacation night for sure. We'll see where I am tomorrow night; my guess based on previous experience is Amarillo. 

Third Time, Feeling Charming

The Beforetimes. Pre-COVID. My last foray outside the Midwest was Valentine's Weekend, 2020, when I met my college besties in New York City for a girls' weekend as beautiful and poignant as similar chick flicks wish they could be. 

Fast forward 15 months, and the storm chasing trip I postponed last year is only 3 days away. So much has changed- beyond the pandemic. I started working at a local anti-poverty organization a little over a year ago, my schnauzer soulmate, Libby, passed away in October, 2020. I started rescuing exotic birds, fish, and reptiles (a lifelong dream of mine that is just as important to me as storm chasing), and I am hosting the inaugural meeting of soon-to-be-nonprofit Chicagoland Exotic Animal Rescue (CLEAR) on June 17th. 

Not to mention; Frankie. My new schnauzer sweetheart loves to give kisses and hold paws; he's the man of my life for sure, and this is his first time meeting my suitcase. Bewilderment, curiosity, TREATS. Priorities, Frankiemonster. He'll head off to Nana Nancy for a week in the suburbs when I depart to Denver on Saturday.

 

Third time with Silver Lining Tours is the charm; when I rescheduled last year's trip I opted to select a tour with a later start date, so that I could see how storms behave a month later than my previous trips in 2018 and 2016. I am honestly so grateful to get away for a minute- if the weather is sunny, I'll go birdwatching. If the weather is tempestuous, I'll be in my happy place: watching a storm rotate over the plains, with the calls of Eastern Meadowlarks in the background. I'll reunite with the growing number of chase buddies I have cultivated over the past 5 years, and regain some of the introspection I had as I embarked upon my 30th year. Unlike 2018, I'm taking a whole week to reaffirm my intimate relationship with Mother Nature.

Next post from Denver on arrival day; bring it on!

Day 4: Surprise Conclusion

I’m writing this final post while we’re on the road from Plainview, TX back to Oklahoma City- although I won’t be able to post this until we’ve arrived in OKC. Today was our final chase day, and after 3 sweet dates with nature, today ended up being meteorologically unexciting. The highlight of my day was getting up early, eating breakfast, and then going back to bed until 10. Oh, and I finished my second novel in five days- storm chasing is good for bookworms.

---Postscript---

After we struck out in Plainview we stopped in Amarillo to divest ourselves of the larger group and our driver, Ryan (thanks for being so awesome, Ryan!). Caryn (who is also fantastic- thanks for everything, Caryn!) took the wheel, we grabbed sandwiches, and hunkered down for an uneventful ride back to Oklahoma City...but nature had some other ideas, and surprised us with a fabulous parting gift- an unexpected cell popped up and escorted the van towards OKC. Beyond a tripmate's unexpected close encounter of the rattlesnake kind, it was a beautiful drive east:

It’s hard to believe this adventure is over; after so many days of preparation, counting down, analyzing the spring weather patterns to the best of my amateur abilities, and avidly following the professional chasers’ endeavors. We did it- this trip accomplished everything I was hoping for and then some! The storms I saw were so powerful and captivating, they won’t be easily forgotten. It was both exhilarating and exhausting to witness such intensity, but it was so worth it. I think I need a little while to recover from my tempestuous, brief affair with extreme nature.

Much as I wrote about profound changes a couple of posts ago, over the past three days I’ve come to realize that I will return to Chicago a different person after all. Now I’m someone who has finally accomplished my childhood dream- one I’ve sought to realize for most of my life. I try to make consistent, dedicated efforts in terms of maintaining the lifestyle, career, friendships, relationships, and goals I possess, and in this instance, I’ve succeeded...so now what?

I might go chasing again in a couple of years- as a hobbyist, perhaps, rather than an acolyte. I know I won’t give up my penchant for being a weather geek, that’s for sure! It might take a couple of weeks, several months, or a year or two to conceptualize a new, unique kernel of aspiration to nurture, but in the meantime- I’m in no rush. Life is pretty wonderful, there are always new adventures and opportunities on the horizon- and I finally got my tornado.

An ending, a beginning, or something in between.

Music: Fall Outta Love, Illenium

Mood: Worn out

Day 3: Meandering to Tucumcari

Firstly- old business. There was a confirmed touchdown on Monday's New Arkansas/Newkirk tornado. As we checked out of our hotel in Woodward this morning, they were even talking about it on the Weather Channel. Although my photo wasn't as obvious as the one below- at least I can say that my tornado was legit!

This morning I'm writing from the familiar confines of the Ashmore Inn, here in Amarillo. Three days out of the week I spent chasing in 2016 were spent in and around Amarillo- hiking Palo Duro and Capulin on down days. It's nice to be back, and it was equally pleasant to be back in New Mexico yesterday.

There's something about crossing the western border of Texas into New Mexico- it seems like the state becomes prettier, somehow. After our group joined Roger's new tour group here in Amarillo, we set a brisk pace towards our target- the town of Tucumcari. Try saying that three times fast! The meteorological set up seemed a little sloppier than Sunday or Monday, but the scenery and eventual storm structure made up for the cells' lack of organization.

Evolution of a New Mexico storm- the 4th picture in this line up is my favorite. The white stuff on the ground in the last picture is hail!

As our storm worked to absorb other cells nearby, we repositioned several times to see what different views had to offer. The landscape alone seemed to defer to the dynamic energy of the storm. I also took a moment to pay more attention to the ground than what was going on above me- the next image is for my mom, who takes photos of flowers the way I take pictures of the sky.

But wait- there's more! We had our third consecutive day of rainbow-y goodness on our way back towards Amarillo, after Roger decided to call it a day.

Amarillo seemed to welcome us back with open arms- and a sky filled with glorious mammatus clouds that started off looking like marble and slowly deepened into orange as the sun set. The view from my sweet suite wasn't bad, either. 

Today's the final day of chasing before I have to head back to vacationless reality; after several days of cooperative weather and good company, I truly couldn't have asked for a more fulfilling experience. I can't wait to see what today will bring. I know it's going to be a long day- we have to end up in OKC for Thursday's departure, so my final chase day post may not be until Thursday afternoon or evening, after I've returned to Chicago.

Music: Koto, ODESZA

Mood: Grateful