Melrose bears brunt of Monday's storm

Monday evening’s thunderstorms sent bright lightning crackling through the sky west of Clovis and caused judges at the Little Buckaroos Rodeo to call an early end to their event, but by the time the storm hit Clovis, it dropped only .05 of an inch of rain in town.

“(The storm) started just west of Melrose probably about 7:30 p.m. and went through Cannon (Air Force Base) about 8:45 to 8:50 and started to dissipate over Clovis about 9 p.m.,” said National Weather Service Geoff Bogorad. “It moved into Texas at about 15 minutes after 9 p.m. and it completely died there.”

While Clovis got only a small amount of rain, rainfall was much heavier west and south of town.

“My radar was showing just south of Melrose and west of St. Vrain, there was anywhere from 3/4 of an inch to an inch of rain,” Bogorad said. “The storm weakened as it went over Cannon Air Force Base, and as it passed south of downtown Clovis, it just skirted the southern edge.”

According to dispatchers at the Clovis Police Department, no reports were received of damage in Curry County. A service clerk at Allsups in Melrose said no customers had reported damage despite the heavy local rainfall.

The National Weather Service reported that Cannon received 33/100 of an inch of rain but no wind reports were available. Clovis wind reached a peak speed of 39 mph.

No reports were immediately available of rain or wind speeds in Portales.