Damaged homes and businesses, Shattered windows, and dented cars became reality for parts of Oklahoma and Texas this past April when a massive hailstorm bombarded the two states.
Hailstones
Hailstones brought about by the storm ranged in size from baseballs and golf balls to grapefruits - but one stone, particularly, has made a name for itself for its unsurpassed size.
On June 22 a report was released by the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) and it confirmed one hailstone that landed amid the disastrous storm broke the record for its "unheard of" size as the largest hailstone in the state of Texas, a State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) confirmed unanimously.
On April 28, the stone landed 1 mile south-southwest of the center of Hondo, Texas, roughly about 7:35 p.m. CDT. It measured 6.4 inches in diameter and 19.73 inches in circumference and weighed a whopping 1.26 pounds with a volume of about 40.239 cubic inches.
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Original Photogaraph of the Largest Hailstone
AccuWeather Meteorologist John Feerick said: "For hail to be regarded as 'severe,' it must be larger than 3/4 inch in diameter, so most hailstones are likely, generally, pea to marble size."
The record-breaking stone was formally measured on May 6, after it appeared to have diminished in size from April 28 - the day it was its picture was originally taken. The finders of the hailstone placed it in the freezer but they did not seal it in a container or plastic bag, which could have made it shrink.
The individual who discovered the hailstone confirmed that it had fallen through a tree before reaching for the ground, but the report states that it does not appear as though the stone got any damage during the fall, as the tree possibly decrease the fall speed, according to a report from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center.
Gargantuan
On the same day, another hailstone the NOAA described as "gargantuan" was found south of U.S. Highway 90 in Hondo, around half a mile from the area of the confirmed record-breaking hailstone. The individual who discovered the stone estimated the diameter to be 6-7 inches, implying it could have possibly been bigger than the confirmed record-breaking stone.
Whether that stone off the highway was the actual record-breaker or not will forever stay a mystery, as it was used to produce margaritas before it was able to be formally measured.
The greatest credibly reported hailstone diameters in Texas before the one in April are 8 inches in Washington County on Dec. 6, 1892, 6 inches in Moore County on June 12, 2010, 7-8 in Winkler County on May 31, 1960, and 6 inches in Ward County on May 10, 1991.
NCEI said in its report, no other measurements, such as volume or weight, circumference, were recorded for these hailstones, and the Hondo hailstone appears to be the largest one recorded.
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