• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Record Largest Hailstone for Texas (28 April 2021)...and Margaritas

Randy Jennings

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Joined
May 18, 2013
Messages
794
On April 28, 2021 a record breaking hail storm hit the Hondo TX area. NWS conformed a new TX record hailstone measuring 6.4 inches across, 12 inches in circumference, and weighing more than a pound. They received reports of a 6.57 inch hailstone, but it could not be confirmed because it was turned into a batch of margaritas before it could be officially messured.

Full story atnd pics at Record-breaking hailstone fell near San Antonio. A bigger one went into margaritas.
 
I had to kinda cock my head to the side (like a dog) when I read this passage:

MySA said:
Rather amazingly, members of the NWS were able to use radar to detect almost the precise moment the record-breaking ice fell, and put it at approximately 7:35 p.m.

So the "almost precise" moment was approximate? 🤪

(I get the semantics, but taken at face value, that phrase does seem silly)

On a more serious note, though, I'm not sure how that can be done, as there is no way radar can detect individual hydrometeors that are substantially smaller than the radar resolution volume, as is the case here (and pretty much everywhere far-field of the radar site, provided it is not detecting a meteor/asteroid larger than a house). So...I don't buy this statement even with the goofy wording taken into account.
 
I suspect that was some embellishment by the reporter. This is one of the hazards of cutbacks in the newsrooms - hardly any "beats" anymore and reporters are all "jack of all trades - master of none". In the old days a reporter on the weather beat would know better.
 
Most states don't. The notion of a nationwide data base of state records like those for hail only came into fruition about 15 years ago with the advent of the State Climate Extremes Committee from NOAA. Before that, it was probably up to individual state climate offices to keep such records, and I'm betting most of them outside of the core of tornado alley didn't bother to keep such records.
 
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