Hail, Lightning, Mammatus, and Rainbow
El Dorado, Lamy, and Santa Fe, NM, May 27, 2010

by John Farley

Numerous thunderstorms developed in and near the central mountains of New Mexico, producing small hail and gusty wind to around 45 mph. I got some video of pea sized to 1/2-inch hail falling around 2 p.m. along route 285 in El Dorado:

Here is a video capture of some lightning, from El Dorado looking down route 285 toward Lamy:

The hail may have been a little larger just south of there, near Lamy, where a significant weather advisory from the NWS in Albuquerque mentioned the possibility of penny-sized hail and 50 mph. It did pile up in many places along route 285 just west of Lamy, as I noticed a number of scenes like this:

After I got back to Santa Fe, there were some decent mammatus in the anvil of the storm:

More storms moved into the Santa Fe area later, producing pea-sized hail between 5:30 and 6 p.m. and a double rainbow just before sunset:

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