High Plains Tornadoes

It’s been an active stretch across the High Plains with daily bouts of severe thunderstorms for more than a week. I’ve traveled over several states during the time and May 26th brought me to New Mexico.

Storms began to develop over the Rockies and slowly pushed off toward the High Plains. One such supercell continued toward Encino, NM, producing a couple of brief tornadoes. I was able to briefly catch a glimpse of the second one, from a distance.

Another supercell also impacted Encino later in the evening, but it was time to head north to get into position for the next day’s chase.

I found myself in Wyoming in May 27th. Storms quickly developed over the Laramie mountains in the afternoon. One storm rapidly organized and produced a small tornado over the higher terrain. Similar to the previous day, I was able to see the tornado from a distance.

Despite an unusually weak jet streak pattern for the Plains in late May, several tornadoes have impacted areas from as far north as Montana, all the way south into eastern New Mexico and the Texas panhandle.