Fridays chase took us back North towards New Mexico. First stop was Roswell which proved to be a fitting location to start a chase that would produce a stunning rotsting mothership cloud. The truth is out there…

After a quick stop for lunch and some sightseeing in Roswell we were ready to pick our target storm and head back on the road. Dan had a dilemma with viable storms starting to form North and South of us. This decision making when no single storm is an obvious target is where factors such as road options and the potential for storms the following day become important considerations. Having spent a day chasing earlier this week in Southern New Mexico oil country we knew the Southern storm would be a challenging target with limited roads and traffic from workers in the oil fields commuting home while we chased.

The decision was made we were going to target a storm forming North of Roswell.

After our drive North our target storm has picked up a severe warning and the chase is on!

The time-lapse below is our drive through Fort Sumner (home of Billy The Kid’s grave) towards our target storm. With the storms structure becoming more aparent as we drew newr.

As we got closer to the storm the structure started to reveal itself, with the New Mexico landscape providing the perfect backdrop.

Thanks to Dan’s excellent forecasting we were perfectly positioned ahead of the storm on a road that aowed us to get multiple vantage points. We had plenty of time to observe as the storm moved towards us. A nice contrast to our last NM chase!

After taking in some incredible shots we repositioned further South and West, heading into the storm and under the shelf cloud to get a view of the storms base.

We found a fantastic overlook that allowed us the luxury of just enjoying the show from the storm for a good 40 minutes.

Watching the storm unfold from this location was just brilliant, we were away from the precipitation with unobstructed views. We were able sit back, relax and watch the lightning show, with its supporting soundtrack of almost constant rumbling thunder. This experience is why I love storm chasing.

Below is a selection of lightning shots, with many of the strikes we witnessed proving elusive to the camera.

As the storm moved off to the South West we decided it was time to head home for the day, and round out an epic afternoon with some beers and BBQ.

We’re almost at the halfway point of the trip and so far every weather related box but 1 gas been checked, that elusive T word! 6 days left to find some twisty winds! Next stop Kansas.