I photographed this wall cloud as it enveloped north Roswell, NM on Cinco De Mayo 2008. We had a Supercell Roll through here on 5-5-06 also! That supercell became tornadic.
This photo was taken near the Roswell city dump. Golf ball to baseball size hail was reported in north Roswell and highway 70 east towards Portales. This cell was #3 of roughly 5 that passed near Roswell. I started the chase by heading Northwest on highway 249 towards Capitan. A tornado warning was issued on the first cell I chased, but ir expired by the time I got within visual range (it was very hazy). The cell behind it was dropping golf ball size hail near Hondo, NM. The third cell was the one that I was betting on. It sure did produce some excitement! The storm hit the Sunset/Picacho area with large hail and slammed Skywarn Spotter Jim Tucker (KB0QNW) with hail large enough to shatter his rear windshield. The storm continued its track eastward and finally made its way into the Roswell city limits. Tornado reports immediately poured in to the Chavez county dispatch center as citizens reported seeing funnel clouds associated with the passing supercell. Northeast of town a Deputy sheriff reported seeing a tornado touchdown.
