Daily synopsis : This event was characterized by a northwest flow aloft and moisture farther west than typically found for this time in the year. Dew point temperatures were in the lower to mid 60s with temperatures in the lower 90s.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
Daily synopsis : This event was characterized by a northwest flow aloft and moisture farther west than typically found for this time in the year. Dew point temperatures were in the lower to mid 60s with temperatures in the lower 90s. An outflow boundary that had moved through the Lubbock, TX area early in the morning lay across the area from Central Lea County into Dawson County, TX.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:45 UTC.
2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
This storm developed along an E-W oriented stationary outflow boundary and moved to the southeast toward Eunice. Before arriving at Eunice the cell stopped and grew into a large multicell complex that covered much of southern Lea County, The northern part of this area branched off to the east and moved into Eunice.
The southern end of the large complex headed toward the southeast toward Jal. The cell that passed over Jal weakened as it came into town.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, May 1997
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5611459, 5611460.