West Texas Storms Cause A New Hailstone Size To Drop (Literally)

Recent West Texas storms wreaked havoc- and destroyed a considerable amount of property this week.

The damage was due to high winds (up to 120 mph, the equivalent of an EF2 tornado) and huge hail- so big that it was described as "DVD-sized," a term that had previously only ever been used in watches.

However, this week "DVD-sized" made it into weather records for the first time as a warning, as it was sighted, collected, and recorded by Matthew Cappucci.

If you're from Texas, you are probably well aware of the terms commonly used to define the size of hailstones. Here is the chart from weather.gov, which appears to need another column at the bottom for DVD size (or 5" diameter):

As you can see, hail beginning at Quater size is "severe," so this week's hail was exponentially worse- shattering windshields and leaving craters in buildings and fields.

Despite how large this hail was, it is not record-breaking. The largest officially recorded hailstone in the U.S. landed in South Dakota in July (really?) of 2010 and was 8' in diameter and weighed nearly two pounds.

Hilariously, the man who found it originally intended to make daiquiris out of the stone but instead froze it and turned it over to the National Water Service for certification and further research on large hailstones.

Hailstones cause an average estimated damage of one Billion dollars to property and crops every year. They are caused when strong updrafts carry raindrops into higher, colder air, causing them to freeze.