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> The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its the highest category for hail risk on the national index. > [Grant Otten, media relations spec

> The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its the highest category for hail risk on the national index. > [Grant Otten, media relations specialist] said the panels are designed to withstand hail, but the size of the hail Friday was exceptional. I started to worry for the installation on my parents' house, but according to the article, this happened on a high risk location within the American Continent, and was still considered unusual there.

dylan604 3y ago
Yeah, baseball sized hail is not a normal thing in my area. Marble sized hail is the normal large size with pea sized hail more frequent. So when the weather alerts start telling you a storm has a history of tennis ball to baseball sized hail, it's one you look to avoid. The marble sized hail is enough to ding metal. Golf ball sized hail will damage trees and smash glass. I've never personally experienced baseball sized hail, but on the day that I ever do, I'll have to question what I did to piss off god to that point.
- bartislartfast 3y ago
  > Yeah, baseball sized hail is not a normal thing in my area. yet
  - dylan604 3y ago
    The conditions to create a hail stone that large are just not easy to create. If you consider the weight of a piece of ice the size of a baseball, then consider the strength of air currents required to keep pushing that bit of mass around in the air so it doesn't fall to the ground sooner you might see why it is rare for that size of stone to be so normal. Even with global warming, those are some serious currents required.
peteradio 3y ago
I wonder what the minimum size is to be worried about. Presumably we are going to find higher insurance premiums for installs that need to be regularly repaired due to hail damage. I think my own home gets what I would consider "car damaging" hail once every 3 years.

dylan604 3y ago

Yeah, baseball sized hail is not a normal thing in my area. Marble sized hail is the normal large size with pea sized hail more frequent. So when the weather alerts start telling you a storm has a history of tennis ball to baseball sized hail, it's one you look to avoid. The marble sized hail is enough to ding metal. Golf ball sized hail will damage trees and smash glass. I've never personally experienced baseball sized hail, but on the day that I ever do, I'll have to question what I did to piss off god to that point.

bartislartfast 3y ago
> Yeah, baseball sized hail is not a normal thing in my area. yet
- dylan604 3y ago
  The conditions to create a hail stone that large are just not easy to create. If you consider the weight of a piece of ice the size of a baseball, then consider the strength of air currents required to keep pushing that bit of mass around in the air so it doesn't fall to the ground sooner you might see why it is rare for that size of stone to be so normal. Even with global warming, those are some serious currents required.

peteradio 3y ago

I wonder what the minimum size is to be worried about. Presumably we are going to find higher insurance premiums for installs that need to be regularly repaired due to hail damage. I think my own home gets what I would consider "car damaging" hail once every 3 years.