'Baseball cap-sized hail:" Near-record hailstones measured in Texas
Massive hailstones, one measured at nearly 6 inches in diameter, pummeled Texas over the holiday weekend, with storm chasers helping scientists on a mission to research big hail.
On Sunday in Afton, about 70 miles east of Lubbock, storm chaser Colt Forney found a hailstone that may have been more than 6 inches in diameter-about the size of a baseball cap.
ICECHIP, a project at Northern Illinois University funded by the National Science Foundation that aims to answer scientific questions about hail, measured a 5.47-inch hailstone in the same town. It was bigger than a baseball and a golf ball put together.
Not to be outdone by Sunday's discovery, a 5.87-inch hailstone was recorded at Menard, Texas-about 150 miles northwest of Austin-Monday by Landon Moeller from ICECHIP.
"Is this what they call the Finger of God? Massive hailstones today!! Everything really is bigger in Texas," Moeller posted on X.
Texas and U.S. hail records
The official hail record in Texas is 6.42 inches, set in Hondo on April 28, 2021. Larger stones were also measured last year but haven't made it into the record books yet. Even if the stone is clearly measured, it can take years for the records to be updated.
A hailstone that fell in Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010, holds the United States record for the largest size with a diameter of 8 inches.
How is hail measured?
Hail is classified by diameter, from pea-sized, one-quarter of an inch across, to softball-sized, 4 inches across. Hail an inch or larger in diameter is considered severe by the National Weather Service.
Beyond 4 inches, the stones are so unusual that there aren't officially terms to describe the size, although "grapefruit" is sometimes used to describe hail that is 4.5 inches in diameter, and "CD/DVD" penned to stones at 4.75 inches.
How does hail form?
When rising air in a thunderstorm, known as the updraft, lifts water droplets high into the atmosphere where temperatures are below freezing, layers of ice form on a frozen raindrop until the hailstone is heavy enough to fall to the ground.
May and June are the most typical months to see large hail, with 32 reports of hail larger than 4 inches in diameter submitted to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center in May 2024 and May 2025 so far.
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Already in treks across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the team has found hail measuring more than 5 inches (13 centimeters) in diameter — bigger than a softball, but not quite a soccer ball. The team's equipment and vehicles already sport dings, dimples and dents that scientists show off like battle scars. 'We got a few good whacks,' said forensic engineer Tim Marshall, who was carrying roofing samples to see if there were ways shingles could better handle hail. 'I look at broken, busted stuff all the time.' At Tuesday's weather briefing, retired National Weather Service forecaster David Imy pointed to potential hot spots this week in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Computer models show the potential for a 'monster storm down here near the Red River" later in the week, he said. Acting on the latest forecasts, Gensini and other leaders told the team to head to Altus, Oklahoma, but be ready to cross the Red River back into Texas at a moment's notice. A few hours after his briefing, Imy had the opportunity to chase one of the bigger storms, packing what radar showed was large hail at 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) in the air. Because of the warm air closer to the surface, the hail was only pea sized by the time it hit the ground. But the outing still provided good data and beautiful views for Imy, who was with a group that stationed themselves about a half-mile from the center of the storm. 'Beautiful colors: turquoise, bluish green, teal,' Imy said, pointing to the mushroom shaped cloud dominating the sky. 'This is beauty to me and also seeing the power of nature.' A costly but overlooked severe weather problem This is not just a bunch of scientists looking for an adrenaline rush or another sequel to the movie 'Twister.' It's serious science research into weather that damages a lot of crops in the Midwest, Gensini said. 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The experiment is unique because of the combination of driving into the hail and deploying numerous radars and weather balloons to get an overall picture of how the storms work, Gensini said, adding that hail is often overlooked because researchers have considered it a lower priority than other extreme weather events. Outside scientists said the research mission looks promising because there are a lot of unanswered questions about hail. Hail is the No. 1 reason for soaring costs in billion-dollar weather disasters in the United States, said meteorologist Jeff Masters, who cofounded Weather Underground and is now at Yale Climate Connections. 'Now a large part of that reason is because we simply have more people with more stuff in harm's way," said Masters, who wasn't part of the research. 'Insurance has become unaffordable in a lot of places and hail has become a big reason." In Colorado, hail is 'actually our most costly natural disaster,' said Lori Peek, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, adding that 'hail does such incredible damage to property." ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
