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CARLSBAD, N.M. — We are in a long waiting game now, as we see how and whether the weather pattern will shift to bring severe storms back to the central U.S. next week. Current indications are that it will happen, but probably not until Wednesday at the earliest. A mid-trip lull seems to be common on these trips — it’s happened in all four of the ones I’ve been on — but a storm hiatus lasting a full week would be unprecedented. But, this is a trip focused on the weather, so we are at the mercy of the weather pattern.
Storm chaser Taylor White, a Virginia Tech student, looks at the Saragosa tornado memorial
In the meantime … there are other places to go and things to do. The first stop today was particularly poignant, as we stopped at a marker commemorating the 30 people who died in the May 22, 1987, tornado that obliterated the small town of Saragosa, Texas. The obvious comparison anyone connected to Virginia Tech — and most of us on this trip are — is the April 16, 2007, shooting, which killed a similar number of people (32). In Saragosa, many buildings were reduced to slabs, and even today the town seems somber and not fully recovered. The slab that supported the nearby post office remains; the post office is now housed in a trailer. (Click here for photo of the post office, as Andrew Smith takes a look at the bare foundation.) At that post office, several of our chasers met a woman named Nancy who survived the tornado, but lost her mother, in Saragosa Hall, where a pre-school graduation ceremony was taking place the evening the tornado hit.
On a happier tone, we also traveled through the beautiful mountains of southwest Texas, eating a picnic lunch at a roadside pullout with a great view of El Capitan, which stands beside Texas’ tallest peak, Guadalupe Peak, in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Most people do not associate the state of Texas with mountains, but the southwest part of the Lone Star State contains many mountains that dwarf those in Southwest Virginia … Guadalupe Peak is about 3,000 feet higher than Virginia’s highest peak, Mount Rogers. The views were stunningly gorgeous. Without a storm to observe, this was the next best thing.
We are in Carlsbad, N.M. tonight. No, we haven’t gone to the caverns … don’t know yet if we will or not. It was too late in the day when we came through to fight through the lines for a multi-hour tour. Our general plan is to slowly drift north the next few days, better positioning ourselves for what may happen in the middle to latter part of next week.
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