ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As severe storms made their way through the state Tuesday, the National Weather Service confirmed five tornadoes touched down.
The NWS reports one tornado made contact with the ground at 12:15 p.m. just south of I-40 near Clines Corners in Torrance County and lifted back up at 12:16 p.m. It also uprooted some trees. Another tornado was reported near Clines Corners while one touched down near Nogal in Lincoln County while the fourth touched down near Ancho, also in Lincoln County.
Eastern New Mexico University in Portales sent a shelter-in-place alert for the campus Tuesday evening, saying there is a “tornado in the vicinity.” The alert did not give details about the reported tornado, but it advised students, faculty and staff to avoid windows. An “all clear” alert followed shortly after.
In downtown Albuquerque, wind knocked down a tree and power pole on Stanford between Lead and Coal. PNM worked to restore power.
In Santa Fe, viewer Steve Ortega sent KOB photos of damage caused to a horse stall. The weather also uprooted a tree. None of his horses were hurt.
Rain, hail and wind also hit many areas in New Mexico. KOB’s Erica Zucco spotted heavy rain on Highway 599 heading to Santa Fe.
A viewer named Patrick provided video of hail falling in Estancia Valley. He said it came down for roughly 30 minutes at his house.
Another viewer, Victor Brooks, sent video showing the hail coming down pretty hard in his front yard in Farmington.
Then there was the hail in Mancos, Colorado. People were running just to get out of it. It was coming down on cars and accumulating on the ground. Some hail was a larger than pea-sized.
In Clines Corner earlier Tuesday, it was raining and even started to hail lightly. A KOB news crew spotted a tree that appeared to be uprooted possibly from the storm. There was a lot of moisture on the roads for drivers.
As things started to pick up, some decided to take a break.
“Traveling has been wet across New Mexico,” said one driver, Brett Harp. “Started in Colorado, worked our way down to 85 all the way to Albuquerque and across to hear we’ve hit sun rain and snow today.
by Jorge Torres, J.R. Oppenheim and Kasia Gregorczyk
May 10, 2017
