Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A summer storm, New Mexico style

We had a typical New Mexico summer storm here the other day.



There was thunder and lightning and wind and hail for about an hour,
and the sun was shining the entire time.



Smooch and I stayed inside for the worst of it, taking pictures through the windows
or from the front porch.



The storm cell must have been parked squarely over my roof.
I never got a good look at it as I was sure the hail would leave dents in my face, or worse, in my lens.



Mrs. Hughes, not the brightest bird in the coop, ran out a few times, thinking the storm was over,
only to find out the hard way that it was not.



Edith waited until the hail stopped to strut her stuff.



The herd was safe in the barn during the storm but anxious to leave because 
hail + metal roof = torture when your ears are this big.



Reason #12 that George hates his grazing muzzle:
he can't open his mouth to take in all the smells.



While I was behind the barn taking pictures, I kept hearing what sounded like a very large waterfall.
Perhaps I had been pelted by hail afterall? Then I located the source of the noise and it was indeed
a waterfall, though not nearly as large as the din it was making. Water from the corral was rushing
into this new and mysterious storm drain. I kept waiting for it to fill up and overflow, but it never did. 
Unbeknownst to me there's an extensive sewer system underground, likely constructed by
a very busy crew of rabbits and rodents. I can only hope it doesn't collapse into a giant sink hole.
Then again, a small pond might be a nice addition to the pasture.



Lucy didn't want to get her muzzle muddy and came over to ask if I would remove it.



I told her I was too busy taking cloud pictures.
She told me I was being a hard-ass.



I'm not sure where JohnnyCashCat weathered the storm.
He eventually dragged his wet self back to the feed room for dinner.


 In my capacity as a weather nerd, I report my daily precipitation totals 
Here is the precipitation map from the day of the storm:
Not surprisingly, all the other weather stations in the vicinity reported no precipitation at all.
For once, it was my lucky day to get all the rain.




10 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had quite a storm! We had some mole tunnels collapse in our pasture some time ago, and it wasn't pretty (we're still filling in holes). Enjoyed the photos :o)

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  2. GORGEOUS cloud photo!!

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  3. I love a summer storm. The garden puts on a happy face once it has passed and sun comes out.
    Great pics, Carson.

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  4. Perhaps the wildlife is constructing an aquifer for the ranch? Though that has to be rough for the little beggars .... all that work to build a home that is coyote proof and offers protection from the heat/cold .. only to be flooded out.

    Your downpour sounds like what the local weather folks call 'localized storms' :). We have a name for the very small ones ... Car Wash.
    You are driving down the road and you drive thru 20-30 feet of strong down-pour ... and then its back to hot and dry.

    When I drive out to the country garden, I will sometimes see puddles, wet roads and I think 'GOOD' the garden got rain :). Wrong. The rain
    literally STOPS at a stop-sign about 1-mile (as the bee flys) from the garden :(. You would think that there is a force field on the other side of '61'.

    M in NC




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  5. Poor Mrs. Hughes and Johnny. Maybe you have an underground reservoir that will keep the pasture green all summer. Strange things happen in New Mexico.

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  6. Those clouds are mesmerizing!
    Do you worry about those holes and equine hoofs getting caught? Just curious.
    I'll raise a glass in celebration of some glorious rain :-)

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  7. That cloud picture!! A relief to see Johnny CashCat weathered the storm; it's a dangerous world when predators can be neither seen nor heard for all the noise. Although, the coyotes have moved on, so no worries, right?

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    1. Ugh. Make that, ...can neither be seen for the hail/sheets of rain, nor heard for all of(?) the noise.
      Really, I must shut up more.

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  8. Carson, we were near you on Tuesday! We drove to Socorro, then up to the VLA (Very Large Array), then over to Arizona (Alpine) and up to Eager, then Show Low. I got some nice photos of the VLA with the storm clouds in the back. I haven't uploaded them yet to my computer, but I'll be posting them this week. Certain areas did look like they got a good drenching! Oh, the two feral kittens are still with us! We were gone for a week, and I left out dry food (which was completely gone!), and when I put out some canned food yesterday afternoon, both were there! :-) I guess they have moved in.
    Cheryl Ann

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