Just before we stopped to view the base, a tornado warning was issued for the cell. Given that radar showed the circulation to be right over the road, and the radar image was a couple minutes old, I figured any tornado would be north and buried in the rain that we could see to the north.

The moment we started north, a tornado warning was issued for the southern storm in the line due to a spotter report of a tornado there. At first, this did not make sense to us because it was a linear storm, but one look at the velocity display on radar and another look at the surface map quickly told me otherwise.

Tempest Tours Tour #1 and I started the day in Clayton, NM. After a late morning of drinking espressos at the local coffee shop and doing laundry, we decided to pursue some storms developing off the Raton Mesa to our northwest.