Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Is it just my imagination or are our storms in eastern New Mexico getting stronger?
Meteorologist Matt DeNaria describes the recent storms in the Clovis/Portales area as “typical for this time of year.”
DeNaria is with the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service.
“I don’t believe we are experiencing a trend of stronger storms,” DeNaria said.
DeNaria said Thursday there haven’t been a lot of storms statewide recently.
“The ones we have had were right there in the Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, Clayton area,” he said.
DeNaria described Tuesday’s area storm activity as coming from a line of storms that passed through the Curry County area.
“Wednesday was a high precipitation supercell,” DeNaria said.
Rainfall totals varied widely around the region, with an area west of Cannon Air Force Base recording up to 4 inches. Much of the area reported at least a half-inch of rain over the two days.
He went on to say the Wednesday storm, in addition to rain and large hail, “likely produced a tornado” and is being investigated by the NWS.
As for the strong, frequent storms hitting areas to the east of New Mexico, DeNaria attributed that to a weather pattern change from El Niño to La Niña and a resulting shift in the jet stream.
“Most of New Mexico does better with El Niño than La Niña for moisture,” DeNaria said.
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