One of my bucket list items in life has always been to be in Arizona and New Mexico for the monsoon season. Some of the best lighting photography I’ve ever seen has come out of that area during that time of year. I still can’t wait until I’m able to make the journey. From the start, my biggest concern with this chase was the potential for rain wrapped tornadoes. It wasn’t a giant day for tornadoes but it looked to be the most promising of the previous days I had spent in New Mexico. This was the first year I ever storm chased in the state, as well. Initially, I saw this one storm that looked raggedy but it had some pretty interesting activity at the base. I believe it was tornado warned but I don’t remember. I only remember I was only filming it just for the time lapse. It was not until I got it into my editing program that I realized all of the lightning I caught! As I made my way back towards Melrose, I was just trying to get one really good structure shot. I believe it was towards House where some people got some very notable structure images. I was trying to intercept it but the roads and my confidence in the storm were not very well aligned. That’s when I decided I’ll get to just north of Melrose in hopes to get a good intercept position. It wouldn’t be long when I would be ready to call it a day so I’m sitting at the intersection of NM Highway 268 and 312, resting and contemplating my drive home. As I’m sitting there, the lightning was becoming more and more impressive. Not to mention, that sound of rolling thunder was music to my ears. I loved it so much that I set up to record it. I’m so glad I did because between this and the last round of lightning, this made my first storm chase in New Mexico an experience I’ll forever cherish! Perhaps one of the craziest parts about being in New Mexico, which I would come to witness the next day, was just how much rain all of these systems had put down. Though I do not remember exactly where I was and I did not shoot video or pictures to show it, as I was making my way home, the amount of flooding I had seen was the most I had ever seen in person. Literally, one of the main highways coming into Texas, for well over a mile, the whole road was submerged and there is no telling just how deep it was exactly. Of course, this meant I had to seek an alternate route. Fortunately, I had found one, but New Mexico’s D.O.T crews were hard at work, trying to clear the roads of debris accumulated by the flooding. Like I said, this was flooding unlike anything I had ever seen in person before. Certainly, the region needed the rain but I am sure they would have been ok without the excess amount that they received.