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Residents in Texas and Oklahoma were recovering Thursday after 4-inch hailstones bombed parts of the states a day earlier, leaving behind damaged cars and homes.
A 1-inch hail is enough to cause harm, but these were the size of a softball.
There were at least 38 reports of severe hail, including near San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
"The hail damage yesterday could become yet another billion-dollar weather disaster for the US," CNN's senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
"This could be the second billion-dollar disaster this year in Texas, after the extreme Arctic outbreak back in February."
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"We were in an interior closet with our children. It was eerily still outside and then we heard a loud noise and the house shook a bit with the first big hailstone," Rebecca Gilliam, a resident of Hondo, Texas, told CNN.
Gilliam said the hail was so big and had so much force that it came through the roof in many areas and even sheet rock on interior walls in a few places.
"Many times, the storms impact more rural areas in this part of the country, but in this case, the largest hail targeted large populated areas like San Antonio, Forth Worth, and Oklahoma City, so more property was damaged," Hennen explained.
Another severe thunderstorm produced significant hail in and around the Norman, Oklahoma area. Marek Cornett is one of the people whose property it had attacked—her rental home got hit really bad. "This storm was a very small one but very intense," Cornett told Bored Panda. "There were 70-80 mph winds which is why the gigantic hail was essentially thrown through the windows. The entire city of Norman (3rd largest city in Oklahoma) is dealing with the ramifications right now. Windows, roofs, cars all have damage."
Cornett the area has at least 4-5 severe weather storms a year, and most often they include tornados. "This one was just an intense hail storm with wind."
The weather unfolding over the Plains on Wednesday was “nearly the perfect setup for severe storms with hail,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bill Deger said.
“There was plenty of energy in the atmosphere, 'fuel' from sunshine, warm conditions, and moisture flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico,” Deger explained. “The end result was very large, damaging hailstones in Texas and Oklahoma.”
“It’s not a surprising event to get big hail storms this time of the year across Texas and Oklahoma," he added, "but what was remarkable about it was that we had the intersection of big hail storms in areas where there are a lot of people and businesses."
Hail makes up the highest number of insurance claims each year and can exceed $10 billion in losses annually, the Weather Channel reported.
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Aftermath of 8” average hail size in Hondo Texas last night, yes that’s daylight shining thru the roof shingles and plywood
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Easily Excitable Panda 3 years ago
I've spent many a tornado night hiding the bath. Good for you for taking care of yourself and your kid!
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JonaLou2U 3 years ago
The worst thing about this storm was that there was no warning- it wasn't even raining. All of the sudden we heard the wind (75-80 mph) We assumed it was a tornado and went for cover, but ten seconds later it sounded like bombs going off everywhere. Tennis ball size hail hitting our roof, fence, and cars. With such high winds, the hail came at you sideways- Cars and houses can be repaired, thankfully family and pets are all safe and sound across Norman.
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Easily Excitable Panda 3 years ago (edited)
The fact that they even have pre-printed rulers should tell you about the kind of hail we get in Texas and Oklahoma.
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What do you think ?
Steve Barnett 3 years ago
“The Ice Company had to rethink their free-sample-for-everyone campaign in Texas due to a mostly negative response”
Cupcake168 3 years ago
But climate change doesn’t exist. Anyway, I feel sorry fore everybody affected or harmed.
Steve Barnett 3 years ago
“The Ice Company had to rethink their free-sample-for-everyone campaign in Texas due to a mostly negative response”
Cupcake168 3 years ago
But climate change doesn’t exist. Anyway, I feel sorry fore everybody affected or harmed.
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