5 ms·

The hail in Texas was so big Tuesday that it required a new description

57 points by ortusdux 2y ago

ortusdux 2y ago
https://archive.ph/20240529204426/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/05/29/texas-hail-dvd-size-record-nwws/#selection-521.0-521.71 https://archive.ph/20240529204426/https://www.washingtonpost...
delichon 2y ago
In Texas we call those snowflakes.
- DoreenMichele 2y ago
  "Everything's bigger in Texas." Cue that Hillary Duff video... https://youtu.be/lt6PVVr4B04?si=SVfSFzdJzdAWOUpc https://youtu.be/lt6PVVr4B04?si=SVfSFzdJzdAWOUpc
- every 2y ago
  I got caught in such a hail storm on a bright sunny day in Texas. Had to pull my vintage VW Beetle over and hold my hands on the windshield to hopefully keep it from imploding. Noisy too. Like being inside a snare drum. Over in about a minute...
- MR4D 2y ago
  "Texas snow" Everything really IS bigger here! (but we've been saying that for awhile)
dsizzle 2y ago
>Forecasters warned of “DVD-size hail” as stones larger than grapefruits... Not sure what "DVD-size" adds in this subtitle beyond the grapefruit reference, especially since a DVD is flat and the hail is not
- dylan604 2y ago
  The common grapefruit diameter is smaller than the diameter of a DVD. People like to reference the size people in the area might be more familiar. When you say grapefruit, I don't think of something the size of a DVD. That would be an extra large grapefruit based on the sizes and pricing of all of the stores that offer grapefruits I have ever seen. The DVD diameter sized citrus fruit I'm familiar would be pomelos, and not all stores carry them. If you routinely see grapefruit with the same diameter as a DVD that it is a normal measurement for you then, that's great for you, but it is not the normal
- adrianmonk 2y ago
  They've used quarters as a reference point for forever, and coins are also flat, so I guess it's not a problem.
- SkyPuncher 2y ago
  At risk of being a bit unempathetic, your comment seems a bit obtuse. It’s pretty clear that it’s referring to the diameter of the hail. Other flat objects are commonly used to indicate diameter. Mostly coins.
  - dsizzle 2y ago
    The flat part wasn't confusing, was just quibbling about the odd over-explaining of the size (fwiw in the video the person says "baseball" and "softball", and indeed I didn't see any DVD-sized ones).
adolph 2y ago
I don’t understand how “DVD” sized hail is different from “grapefruit” sized. A DVD is 120mm, or about 4 3/4 inches. A grapefruit is “ranges from 100 to 150 mm (4 to 6 inches) in diameter, its size depending upon the variety and upon growing conditions.” [0] Also, the hail depicted in the image did not appear to be one hailstone but an accumulation of several. 0. https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit
- r2_pilot 2y ago
  >Also, the hail depicted in the image did not appear to be one hailstone but an accumulation of several. Concretions of hailstones in the air do occur which is how you can get to these larger diameters.
  - dylan604 2y ago
    Something this large would have a difficult time forming any other way. The sheer weight of it would cause it to not stay aloft long enough to get to that size. Also, does it matter how it was formed? A chunk of ice of that size falling from the ground causing damage doesn't care if it's a single round ice cube for a really large cocktail glass or if it made up of lots of smaller things frozen together as a single piece of ice. The object getting hit doesn't care of it's formation and makeup either. It's still going to hurt. Bad.
    - adolph 2y ago
      The size of a single hailstone indicates the number of times it was relofted and another layer added to it. This quantifies the storm in a way that an aggregate of smaller stones doesn’t.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- tuckerpo 2y ago
  Citing the dimensions of a grapefruit... Hackernews, never change
gmuslera 2y ago
Climate is changing so much that is even affecting our language.
- oniony 2y ago
  Vetrue.
- ars 2y ago
  The article made it seem like the difference is there was someone on the ground chasing the hail and documenting it, not that it had never occurred before.
- beambot 2y ago
  I've been led to believe that if you legislate away any mention of "climate change", then it goes away... /s (But for real, if you live in Florida.)
- wakawaka28 2y ago
  This is far from record-sized hail, even for Texas. The article even says so. The headline is hype.
ASUfool 2y ago
Why not use shotput-sized? 4.33 to 5.12 inch diameter [0] 0. https://www.topendsports.com/resources/equipment/ball-size.htm https://www.topendsports.com/resources/equipment/ball-size.h...
- diputsmonro 2y ago
  I would imagine that more people are familiar with the size of DVDs than shotputs. As a telling piece of evidence, the header image in the article you linked doesn't even include one.
rqtwteye 2y ago
I wonder what this will do to car insurance costs. Sometime in the 90s we had monster hail in Munich and the damage to cars was in the billions. Years later you could still see cars that had tons of dents from that one day.
- DoreenMichele 2y ago
  I imagine it's also ugly for unhoused people and homelessness has been on the rise for years. So you get beaned by a chunk of ice from the sky and now possibly have neurological issues on top of whatever else and may not see a doctor.
  - ars 2y ago
    These storms build up over a period of time, I would imagine they would seek shelter under a tree or in a doorway as soon as one started up. Feel bad for livestock though!
    - rqtwteye 2y ago
      The hail in Munich I wrote about above started like a normal thunderstorm until suddenly all hell broke loose. I cant imagine homeless people will get enough warning to get away.
    - wakawaka28 2y ago
      Exactly... Homeless people are smart enough to take cover, but animals don't necessarily know. Even if they do, they can find themselves far from any cover.
      - rascul 2y ago
        The animals on the farm I work at sometimes know a storm is coming and will find cover. My dogs know a storm is coming and want to play in it.
    - ljf 2y ago
      About 25 years ago (about this time of year) I was in Sydney, Australia - I was in a hostel and popped to the minibus to read their A2Z maps to look up a job I was heading to. I was a mild autumn day, maybe 16c. As I got in the van I heard a clonk, and thought someone threw a stone at the van, then another, and another - suddenly sweeping down the street was a wall of huge hailstones as big as cricket balls - they fell for about 3 minutes then stopped. You would have had a short time to run and hide - but if you were in a tent it would be horrible and potentially dangerous - equally if you were out somewhere open without cover. The damage to roofs and cars was massive. I'm sure they gave some exception to driving with broken windscreens as so many were broken at one time, that loads of cars couldn't get theirs replaced. Edit - realised their must be a Wikipedia article about it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm
ortusdux 2y ago
Can hail size be inferred from radar, or is ground truthing the only option at this time?
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  Can be radar indicated. https://www.mesonet.org/images/site/Hail_Cheat_Sheet.pdf https://www.mesonet.org/images/site/Hail_Cheat_Sheet.pdf https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/detection/ https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/detection/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.06.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.06.002 TLDR Dual-polarisation radar. (Weather.gov digital weather products are solid, check them out)
jl6 2y ago
Should have gone with blu-rayn.
gorjusborg 2y ago
http://archive.today/0TAMD http://archive.today/0TAMD
exabrial 2y ago
At least it wasn't laserdisc sized.
hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago
Lubbock just can't catch a break this season with fires, windstorms, tornados, and now megahydrometeors. I'm along SE edge of the TX triangle where storms from roughly western, southern, or eastern jet stream flows run out of energy.
1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago
Works where archive.ph is blocked: Disable Javascript. (Tested with text-only browser.)
nojvek 2y ago
I find it fascinating that Texas and Florida, the states that get hit by intense weather are the ones building the most Housing. Home and car insurers are having a field day in those states.

57 points by ortusdux 2y ago

https://archive.ph/20240529204426/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/05/29/texas-hail-dvd-size-record-nwws/#selection-521.0-521.71 https://archive.ph/20240529204426/https://www.washingtonpost...

delichon 2y ago

In Texas we call those snowflakes.

DoreenMichele 2y ago
"Everything's bigger in Texas." Cue that Hillary Duff video... https://youtu.be/lt6PVVr4B04?si=SVfSFzdJzdAWOUpc https://youtu.be/lt6PVVr4B04?si=SVfSFzdJzdAWOUpc
every 2y ago
I got caught in such a hail storm on a bright sunny day in Texas. Had to pull my vintage VW Beetle over and hold my hands on the windshield to hopefully keep it from imploding. Noisy too. Like being inside a snare drum. Over in about a minute...
MR4D 2y ago
"Texas snow" Everything really IS bigger here! (but we've been saying that for awhile)

dsizzle 2y ago

>Forecasters warned of “DVD-size hail” as stones larger than grapefruits... Not sure what "DVD-size" adds in this subtitle beyond the grapefruit reference, especially since a DVD is flat and the hail is not

dylan604 2y ago
The common grapefruit diameter is smaller than the diameter of a DVD. People like to reference the size people in the area might be more familiar. When you say grapefruit, I don't think of something the size of a DVD. That would be an extra large grapefruit based on the sizes and pricing of all of the stores that offer grapefruits I have ever seen. The DVD diameter sized citrus fruit I'm familiar would be pomelos, and not all stores carry them. If you routinely see grapefruit with the same diameter as a DVD that it is a normal measurement for you then, that's great for you, but it is not the normal
adrianmonk 2y ago
They've used quarters as a reference point for forever, and coins are also flat, so I guess it's not a problem.
SkyPuncher 2y ago
At risk of being a bit unempathetic, your comment seems a bit obtuse. It’s pretty clear that it’s referring to the diameter of the hail. Other flat objects are commonly used to indicate diameter. Mostly coins.
- dsizzle 2y ago
  The flat part wasn't confusing, was just quibbling about the odd over-explaining of the size (fwiw in the video the person says "baseball" and "softball", and indeed I didn't see any DVD-sized ones).

adolph 2y ago

I don’t understand how “DVD” sized hail is different from “grapefruit” sized. A DVD is 120mm, or about 4 3/4 inches. A grapefruit is “ranges from 100 to 150 mm (4 to 6 inches) in diameter, its size depending upon the variety and upon growing conditions.” [0] Also, the hail depicted in the image did not appear to be one hailstone but an accumulation of several. 0. https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit

r2_pilot 2y ago
>Also, the hail depicted in the image did not appear to be one hailstone but an accumulation of several. Concretions of hailstones in the air do occur which is how you can get to these larger diameters.
- dylan604 2y ago
  Something this large would have a difficult time forming any other way. The sheer weight of it would cause it to not stay aloft long enough to get to that size. Also, does it matter how it was formed? A chunk of ice of that size falling from the ground causing damage doesn't care if it's a single round ice cube for a really large cocktail glass or if it made up of lots of smaller things frozen together as a single piece of ice. The object getting hit doesn't care of it's formation and makeup either. It's still going to hurt. Bad.
  - adolph 2y ago
    The size of a single hailstone indicates the number of times it was relofted and another layer added to it. This quantifies the storm in a way that an aggregate of smaller stones doesn’t.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
tuckerpo 2y ago
Citing the dimensions of a grapefruit... Hackernews, never change

gmuslera 2y ago

Climate is changing so much that is even affecting our language.

oniony 2y ago
Vetrue.
ars 2y ago
The article made it seem like the difference is there was someone on the ground chasing the hail and documenting it, not that it had never occurred before.
beambot 2y ago
I've been led to believe that if you legislate away any mention of "climate change", then it goes away... /s (But for real, if you live in Florida.)
wakawaka28 2y ago
This is far from record-sized hail, even for Texas. The article even says so. The headline is hype.

ASUfool 2y ago

Why not use shotput-sized? 4.33 to 5.12 inch diameter [0] 0. https://www.topendsports.com/resources/equipment/ball-size.htm https://www.topendsports.com/resources/equipment/ball-size.h...

diputsmonro 2y ago
I would imagine that more people are familiar with the size of DVDs than shotputs. As a telling piece of evidence, the header image in the article you linked doesn't even include one.

rqtwteye 2y ago

I wonder what this will do to car insurance costs. Sometime in the 90s we had monster hail in Munich and the damage to cars was in the billions. Years later you could still see cars that had tons of dents from that one day.

DoreenMichele 2y ago
I imagine it's also ugly for unhoused people and homelessness has been on the rise for years. So you get beaned by a chunk of ice from the sky and now possibly have neurological issues on top of whatever else and may not see a doctor.
- ars 2y ago
  These storms build up over a period of time, I would imagine they would seek shelter under a tree or in a doorway as soon as one started up. Feel bad for livestock though!
  - rqtwteye 2y ago
    The hail in Munich I wrote about above started like a normal thunderstorm until suddenly all hell broke loose. I cant imagine homeless people will get enough warning to get away.
  - wakawaka28 2y ago
    Exactly... Homeless people are smart enough to take cover, but animals don't necessarily know. Even if they do, they can find themselves far from any cover.
    - rascul 2y ago
      The animals on the farm I work at sometimes know a storm is coming and will find cover. My dogs know a storm is coming and want to play in it.
  - ljf 2y ago
    About 25 years ago (about this time of year) I was in Sydney, Australia - I was in a hostel and popped to the minibus to read their A2Z maps to look up a job I was heading to. I was a mild autumn day, maybe 16c. As I got in the van I heard a clonk, and thought someone threw a stone at the van, then another, and another - suddenly sweeping down the street was a wall of huge hailstones as big as cricket balls - they fell for about 3 minutes then stopped. You would have had a short time to run and hide - but if you were in a tent it would be horrible and potentially dangerous - equally if you were out somewhere open without cover. The damage to roofs and cars was massive. I'm sure they gave some exception to driving with broken windscreens as so many were broken at one time, that loads of cars couldn't get theirs replaced. Edit - realised their must be a Wikipedia article about it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm

ortusdux 2y ago

Can hail size be inferred from radar, or is ground truthing the only option at this time?

toomuchtodo 2y ago
Can be radar indicated. https://www.mesonet.org/images/site/Hail_Cheat_Sheet.pdf https://www.mesonet.org/images/site/Hail_Cheat_Sheet.pdf https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/detection/ https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/detection/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.06.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.06.002 TLDR Dual-polarisation radar. (Weather.gov digital weather products are solid, check them out)

jl6 2y ago

Should have gone with blu-rayn.

gorjusborg 2y ago

http://archive.today/0TAMD http://archive.today/0TAMD

exabrial 2y ago

At least it wasn't laserdisc sized.

hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago

Lubbock just can't catch a break this season with fires, windstorms, tornados, and now megahydrometeors. I'm along SE edge of the TX triangle where storms from roughly western, southern, or eastern jet stream flows run out of energy.

1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago

Works where archive.ph is blocked: Disable Javascript. (Tested with text-only browser.)

nojvek 2y ago

I find it fascinating that Texas and Florida, the states that get hit by intense weather are the ones building the most Housing. Home and car insurers are having a field day in those states.