Date: March 12, 2019
Time: 4:30 - 7:00 PM MDT
Place: Loving, Malaga, New Mexico
Distance: 632 mi (240 positioning, 107 chasing, 285 to home)
Camera: GoPro7, Sony RX100ii
Warnings: SVR, TOR
Rating: S3

Pre-Chase

11:15 AM - 3:00 PM MDT: Today officially kicks off the 2019 season in a rather unusual and early manner! Never before in our modern "ABQ" chase era have we ever gotten out in March (the closest was April 7, 2013). But here we are with a chase practically in our own backyard -- SE New Mexico.

Meteorologically, today features a tight, ejecting closed low over Arizona, with SE surface winds pulling up some nice 60° dews and creating an interesting parameter space for this part of the country this time of year. But with this moisture comes a hitch: dense fog and low stratus that may have trouble burning off in the low, early-spring sunshine, thus limiting instability. It's the classic catch-22 that makes any good chase so fun/annoying to analyze.

I actually went into work this morning, unsure if a chase was worth the effort. But after getting some early meetings out of the way, the 1630z SPC update convinced me to take a half-day. Dashing home and throwing Toni and camera equipment into the car, we were soon on the road towards Vaughn, NM and points southeast -- listening to old, nostalgic music along the way.

3:00 - 4:30 PM MDT: As we drove from Vaughn, through Roswell, and finally to Artesia, skies constantly varied between thinning stratus and dense, unrelenting fog. In fact, the further south we drove, the deeper the murk. I was definitely growing worried about a lack of destabilization. On top of that, the gloomy skies provided zero motivation for any b-roll footage. Instead, we wasted over an hour in the Artesia McDs awaiting initiation. And finally, by 4:30 we had a storm tracking between Artesia and Carlsbad!

The Chase

4:30 - 5:00 PM MDT: As our storm crossed the Guadalupe Mtns heading northeast, Brantley Lake seemed like a good initial target. Dropping south of Artesia, we were now well into the weird, oil country of SE NM -- the low stratus over pumpjacks, oil tanks, and glowing orange gas flare stacks. Definitely a dreary chase vibe. In fact, upon arrival at Brantley Lake it was already obvious our storm was starting to fall apart. This didn't feel like an epic chase.

5:00 - 6:20 PM MDT: Nevertheless, we persisted south towards the next storm coming out of Texas towards Carlsbad. We looped around the SW side of town but still caught some bad rush-hour traffic -- likely a combo of locals and oil trucks. Finally, by 5:35 we made it through Carlsbad south on Hwy 285 towards Loving -- most of the fog and stratus having burned off leaving a view of an approaching dark cloud bank to our southwest.

Far from the Cannon AFB and Midland radars, it was difficult to discern storm structure in the oncoming cell, apart from its embedded nature in the larger line and a hint of a comma curl. But at 5:40, Midland NWS issued of Tornado Warning headed directly for us! Perhaps this gloomy chase was about the change.

Hoping to get a view ASAP, we headed west on Hwy 720 directly towards the heart of the onrushing storm -- not sure exactly where the primary rotation was located. The day's ubiquitous, grey gloom was not yet completely gone, and now it was joined by staccato purple lightning flashes in the forward flank. By 5:55, we noted an RFD horseshoe arcing towards us with a tight lowering on the northern apex -- classic tornadic structure!

But almost as soon as we caught this nubby little funnel, it passed ahead of us and into the rain. Nickel hail soon followed, so we backtracked east towards Malaga. To our south, flanking line towers appeared to be consolidating into another base, but without better radar coverage I didn't have much situational awareness. At Hwy 285 we had a coin-flip choice: new base south or existing rotation north. Much to my hindsight chagrin, we chose north -- plunging further into a strengthening hail core hoping to catch another view of the funnel near Loving. On the outskirts of town, hail got large enough (ping pong balls) that I temporarily sought shelter under a random home's carport before continuing north. Along the highway, several inches of hail accumulated and a few cars had their back windows knocked out.

6:20 - 12:20 AM MDT: That ended up being peak excitement for the chase. We spent another hour and a half playing catchup behind the congealing line with embedded supercells -- hoping for one last view from the west. But our efforts were rewarded only with more murk and heavy rain. Not much of a prize. At 7pm, much to Toni's relief, we called the chase and started the drive home. After a nice dinner at Rib Crib in Roswell, we arrived home just after midnight. Only then did I see online what we'd just missed in Malaga.

Recap, Filmmaking Notes, and Lessons Learned