Just How Fast Hail Can Fall From Sky:It Might Shock You
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Large hail is most abundant in the springtime,and while this severe weather threat is often overshadowed by tornadoes,it comes with a destructive reputation that amounts to billions in damage annually.
Here are eight quick facts to know about this often damaging type of severe weather.
1. The biggest hail ever measured was nearly 15 years ago
A hailstone 8 inches in diameter was produced by a severe thunderstorm in Vivian,South Dakota,on July 23,2010. That's the largest diameter hail ever recovered in the U.S.
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Texas saw one of the larger hailstones in more recent years. It measured 6.4 inches in diameter after it was recovered near Hondo,Texas,on April 28,2021.
2. The National Weather Service uses various objects to describe hail sizes
The smallest (0.25-inch diameter) is often referred to as pea-sized,which doesn't typically cause damage. Damaging hail types start with quarter-sized (1 inch) and ramp up to golf-ball-sized (1.75 inches) and baseball-sized (2.75 inches). The largest hailstones on the chart are referred to as softball-sized (4 inches),grapefruit-sized (4.5 inches) and DVD-sized (4.75 inches).
3. Hail size is often directly correlated with the type of damage it causes
As a general rule of thumb,this is the type of damage you can see from various hail sizes:
-Quarter (1 inch):Damage to shingles
-Golf ball (1.75 inches):Dents on vehicles
-Baseball (2.75 inches):Windshields smashed
-Softball (4 inches):Holes in roofs
If a hailstorm is accompanied by strong winds,those winds can worsen the damage.
4. There is a "hail alley"
Hail is most common in the central and eastern states,especially the Plains states. The map below is all of the large hail reports (1 inch or larger diameter) in the U.S. during 2023,which illustrates how most of the nation's hail activity is concentrated east of the Rockies.
NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory says Colorado,Nebraska and Wyoming typically have the most hail,with the area where those three states meet dubbed "hail alley".
5. The costliest U.S. hailstorm happened in a place you might not expect
The most expensive hailstorm in U.S. history hit the Phoenix metro area on Oct. 5,2010. An estimated $2.8 billion in damage was caused by that storm,according to NOAA's storm events database. Phoenix is far removed from where the bulk of hail activity in the U.S. occurs,which was outlined earlier.
As senior meteorologist Jon Erdman wrote about last year,the annual cost of hail to America's insurers,homeowners and farmers runs in the billions of dollars.
6. Hail is rarely deadly in the U.S.,but it causes injuries
You have to go back more than a decade to find the last deadly hailstorm.
The last one happened in March 2000,when a person was killed by baseball to softball size hail in Lake Worth,Texas. There have been a couple other reports of deaths in the U.S. in the last 100 years – one in Fort Collins,Colorado,in July 1979 and another in Lubbock,Texas,in May 1930.
Injuries from large hail happen every year. One recent extreme example was in July 2023,when nearly 100 concert attendees at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado were injured by hail up to 2 inches in diameter,according to the National Weather Service.
7. Very large hail can fall at speeds over 100 mph
The speed that hail falls depends on several factors,including its size,wind conditions and how much melting occurs.
Hailstones larger than 4 inches in diameter can fall at a speed comparable to a baseball thrown from a major league pitcher – near 100 mph,according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).
Hail that's 2 to 4 inches in diameter typically falls at speeds between 44 and 72 mph,and 1- to 1.75-inch hail falls at speeds between 25 and 40 mph.
Those speeds are a good indication of why injuries from large hail can be so severe.
8. Supercell thunderstorms usually produce the largest hail
Supercells are rotating thunderstorms that occur in the U.S. and other parts of the world that produce hail,high winds and sometimes tornadoes.
This type of thunderstorm has strong updrafts,which keep hailstones that form suspended aloft,allowing them to grow in size. Once the hail becomes too heavy for the updraft to keep it aloft,then it falls to the ground.
Supercells can travel long distances,which means the hail they produce can affect a wide area.
The largest hail that accompanies a supercell is located to the north of its so-called hook echo that's sometimes seen on radar,which is where any associated tornado is usually found. Meteorologists can use radar imagery to estimate the size of hail a storm might produce.
Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist with www.weathernow24.com for over 10 years after beginning his career with Weather Now 24 in the early 2000s.
The Weather Now 24’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news,the environment and the importance of science to our lives.
