Gary Osoba <<osobagary>>
writes:

Once I was flying the prototype Carbon Dragon for Straight
Distance World Records out of Hobbs, New Mexico. On one flight I was north of
Tucumcari, New Mexico when an approaching front was accelerating toward me from
the west. Due to the typically good visibility over the New Mexican desert, I
could see this approach for several hours and was trying to get as far north as
I could quickly.

When it accelerated, I was climbing at about 12,000’ and a series of cumulus
clouds started forming quickly underneath me at about 9,000’, preceding the
frontal line. These began to fill in and eventually did so completely.

As I prepared to top out and dive through the segment of the front toward the
north, my wife and kids were chasing on the ground and about 15 miles behind. As
the front approached her, my wife reported seeing a “wall of tornadoes” about 3
miles long” advancing rapidly across the desertscape. I couldn’t see this from
my position, but it terrified her.

These were landspouts, such as the one seen near Big Spring. Later she said that
there were at least 10 of these, spaced pretty evenly and extending into the
frontal clouds.

After diving into the stable side of the front, I flew against a strong headwind
as far to the north as I could before landing near Nara Visa, New Mexico. We
quickly loaded the glider onto the open trailer and found helpful hangar owner
further north at the Dalhart, Texas airport. He allowed us to store the glider
there overnight. Within minutes of getting the glider inside, a huge
thunderstorm hit and caused localized flash flooding.