Golf ball-size hail pounds Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES — A storm rained down large chunks of ice across the Mesilla Valley on Saturday afternoon, leaving in its wake shattered windshields, broken skylights and bruised bodies.

The storm, carrying with it golf ball-sized hail, battered various areas of town in about five-minute intervals between 1:30 and 2 p.m.

"Everybody in Las Cruces got a taste of it," said Greg Lundeen, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Santa Teresa.

Many took to social media to share photos and stories of what they had witnessed.

"Sounded like a train or a plane planning to land on my roof. Went to bring a plant in and got hit on my head dong, clunk..ouch" Gloria Alderette posted on the Las Cruces Sun-News facebook page.

Juli Rivera Durrett, who lives near Roadrunner Parkway and Frontier Drive, reported damage to her house. "Broke every skylight in the house. Hail on the bathroom floors," she wrote.

"Gave my son a huge welt on his arm," wrote Ari Brown, who also lives off of Roadrunner.

Tori Bracamonte, 20, said she has lived in Las Cruces all of her life and has never witnessed a hailstorm like this one.

"I had heard of golf ball-sized hail, but I never thought it existed," she said. "This was like something out of the movies."

Lundeen said Las Cruces isn't immune to violent hailstorms. In June of 1996, the town recorded golf ball-sized hail, he said. A hailstorm in 2004 brought tennis ball-sized hail to southern Doña Ana County, he said.

The degree of Saturday's hailstorm was rather unexpected, however.

"We knew there'd be some thunderstorms, and possibly some small hail," he said. "But all of the ingredients came together for severe development that wasn't obvious early on."

Bracamonte, who lives near the baseball and softball fields in the Hadley Complex, said she and her family were watching The Whole Enchilada Fiesta Softball Tournament from their back yard, when the storm began. They sought shelter inside. Outside, the hail was busting through the windshield of her dad's pickup and leaving dents in her car.

But, Bracamonte said, she was concerned about the players competing in tournament.

"I went outside to see if they were OK. They were all hiding in the dugouts and the fields were covered in hail," she said.

Many were also in attendance at the Southern New Mexico State Fair & Rodeo west of town when the hailstorm struck,

"It hit me in the face, but it did not dampen my spirits," said fair-goer Camila Garcia.

Las Cruces Police Department Sgt. Roberto Gutierrez said he wasn't aware of any major damage or injuries due to the storm.

Lundeen said the Las Cruces International Airport, the weather service's official reporting station, recorded 0.37 inches of rain as of 6 p.m. Saturday, but "some areas (of Las Cruces) probably got more."

Low-pressure systems in California and the Gulf of Mexico are pushing the stormy weather into Las Cruces. Lundeen said residents can expect more rain, and more thunderstorms, through Wednesday.

Lucas Peerman can be reached at 575-541-5446 or lpeerman@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @LittleGuyInATie.