The first severe weather outbreak finally reached New Mexico in early May, during the afternoon and evening of the 5th to be exact. A storm churning away off the northern Baja California coast was able to pull plenty of Gulf of Mexico moisture northwest into the eastern half of the state on the 4th and 5th. This set the stage for a widespread outbreak of severe storms from early afternoon on the 5th through the late evening hours. The image below shows the surface dewpoints during the early evening on the 5th. Copius amounts of moisture can be seen over southeast New Mexico.

The infrared satellite below illustrates the strength of the storms, with very cold cloud tops reaching high into the atmosphere. The radar image below at roughly the same time reveals a severe storm north of Roswell that produced baseball size hail!