This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Hail swath near Willard, New Mexico

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images, from 2000 UTC on 19 June to 0019 UTC on 20 June; Interstates and State Highways are plotted in violet [click to play animated GIF| MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images (above) showed clusters of slow-moving thunderstorms across Torrance County in central New Mexico on 19 June 2024. In addition to generating strong winds and heavy rainfall, these storms were also prolific hail-producers — most notably, there was one Local Storm Report of 2.00-inch diameter hail that lasted for 1.5 hours and accumulated to a depth of 6 inches (9 miles southeast of Willard).

Parts of the northwest-to-southeast oriented swath of hail accumulation near Willard were evident through occasional breaks in the clouds — exhibiting varying shades of green, such as was seen at 2005 UTC, 2250 UTC, 2305 UTC and 0006 UTC. The hail swath appeared to have crossed State Highway 60, which jogs west-to-east across Torrance County (passing through Willard).

Categories: GOES-18, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Severe convection