World record hailstone in South Dakota?

i know it...i was reading in the NOW section someone said something about 6-8 inch stones coming from the dante storm...but, when i looked in the SPC storm reports for the day, the largest stone was 4.25 inches...

maybe they cant list anything larger then that...
 
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Terry J. Tyler said:
i know it...i was reading in the NOW section someone said something about 6-8 inch stones coming from the dante storm...but, when i looked in the SPC storm reports for the day, the largest stone was 4.25 inches...

maybe they cant list anything larger then that...
Click to expand...

FSD sent out the LSR listing 4.25" hail, but they noted in the "comments" section that some stones were 6-8" in diameter. Since that time, they have revised that LSR. It's now as follows, from the 709 AM CDT LSR summary:

FSD LSR said:
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0610 PM HAIL DANTE 43.04N 98.19W
08/21/2007 E4.25 INCH CHARLES MIX SD TRAINED SPOTTER

FEW HAILSTONES LARGER THAN SOFTBALLS BUT EXACT SIZE
UNKNOWN. [/FONT]
Click to expand...
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]
That's probably the more prudent thing to do until they can verify the size more accurately.

For review, the largest hailstone on record fell in Aurora, NE, on 22 June 03. That "record" stone measured 7.0" in diameter and 18.75" in circumference. There were also reports of even larger stones, but they melted some before being recovered and measured. Those stones also crashed through roofs and left very large indentations in the ground. Guyer and Ewald examined this event --> see http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/guyer/aurora.pdf
[/FONT]
 
Well, not soon after I made the post above, FSD released a PNS on this event:

[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]..DANTE SOUTH DAKOTA HAILSTONE OFFICIALLY MEASURED AT 5.25 INCHES[/FONT]
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]LARGE HAIL FELL ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA TUESDAY
EVENING AUGUST 21 2007. THE SMALL COMMUNITY OF DANTE...IN SOUTHEAST
CHARLES MIX COUNTY...TOOK A DIRECT HIT FROM THE LARGE HAIL. MOST
HOMES IN DANTE SUSTAINED CONSIDERABLE HAIL DAMAGE...WITH HOLES
PUNCHED IN ALMOST EVERY ROOF IN TOWN BY THE LARGE HAIL.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEYED THE DAMAGE AND FOUND THE
LARGEST HAILSTONE TO BE 5.25 INCHES IN DIAMETER. THIS HAILSTONE WAS
NOT PICKED UP FOR 10 TO 20 MINUTES AFTER IT FELL...SO WAS LIKELY
LARGER WHEN IT HIT THE GROUND. THE LARGE HAIL CREATED CRATERS UP TO
10 INCHES BY 12 INCHES IN THE YARDS THROUGHOUT DANDE. THE LARGEST
HAIL FELL AT APPROXIMATELY 610 PM ON AUGUST 21 2007. [/FONT]
Click to expand...
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]

--> http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KFSD/0708221941.nous43.html
[/FONT]
 
Just a question... When measuring hail like that, some of the pics I saw the stones had some huge spikes on them. Do you measure just the diameter of the main "ball" of the stone, or the spikes too?
 
I was thinking even from a reporting standpoint. You find one of these super spikey hailstones. Would you measure it end to end across the longest spikes, or just the center mass so to speak. I never actually had to report on one with huge spikes like that in my memory.

I had a pic of the hail there I dug up to blog about the event that has spikes that would add, looks like as much as 3 to 4 inches to the diameter if included.

http://www.wx5tvs.com/blog/

Incredible hailstone! Presuming that guys hand is about the size of mine (I am a big guy) if you take the spikes in to account, that looks like in the neighborhood of 8 inches or so.
 
HERE is a 2 hour radar loop from that storm. I might be able to get a grab from video of the SD supercell viewed from O'Neill. I watched that left split fly ne off the O'Neill storm and I'm now guessing I didn't miss much as I would have had a hard time beating that to the SD supercell. On radar it's a whole lot similar to July 12, 2004. That day a split flew ne from the same exact area, hitting another supercell to the ne on its way. The O'Neill storm was deviant that day too and also had a second supercell fire south of it, which went on to tornado(this in pretty much identical areas and the sfc boundary orientated the same..similar instability and flow). It's crazy how similar all that is, though this time the two southern storms couldn't get it done without lining out. It just seems that more ne-sw boundary is always in that area this time of year, at the time of initiation...with things like that happening.
 
Chip Legett is currently making calls for NSSL up there. We'll be passing along the data to FSD. We're trying to get as many photos and first hand accounts. Right now our largest is at 7"x3.5"---nice lobe of ice! That report was accompained by the witness stating that the hail was penetrating car hoods.
 
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If anyone else has good historical pics of huge hail, preferably with hand in shot for scale comparison there may be a chance I could use these also in the story. If anyone can help please email pics to me. Recompense, if used.

Thanks
Mark
[email protected]
 
I just happend to point the Video Camera to the North for about 2 seconds while passing through O'Neill, we saw the storm while coming to O'neill from the East and could have made it, but parameters were just as good to the South and at that point the ONeill storm was free of Convection to its south while numerous TCU were between the SD storm and O'Neill. Couple video grabs of the storm.
DSC00120.jpg


DSC00119.jpg
 
Kiel Ortega said:
Chip Legett is currently making calls for NSSL up there. We'll be passing along the data to FSD. We're trying to get as many photos and first hand accounts. Right now our largest is at 7"x3.5"---nice lobe of ice! That report was accompained by the witness stating that the hail was penetrating car hoods. When we get pics, I'm sure we'll post some.
Click to expand...

I have confirmed via a submitted photo (will not post due to any copyright issues), this hail stone was huge! Measurements look right and it was a mostly circular on the main axis and oval shaped on the minor axis. Has a knob on it which led the 7" long axis.
 
The photo and information about the location of the giant hail have been passed along to FSD, and it's important to remember any dimensions are unofficial until the FSD NWS office has had a chance to review all the information and make an official decision.

-Kevin Scharfenberg
CIMMS/NSSL
Norman, OK
 
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