Experts confirm this hailstone broke the record as the biggest in Texas history
In a report, the NOAA’s State Climate Extremes Committee determined that the hailstone, also known as the Virgo Park hailstone, measured 7.1 inches in diameter, breaking the previous Texas record of 6.5 inches.
NOAA’s State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) confirmed a hailstone that fell in the Texas panhandle during a June 2024 severe weather event was the largest in the state’s history.
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In a report, the committee determined that the hailstone, also known as the Virgo Park hailstone, measured 7.1 inches in diameter, breaking the previous Texas record of 6.5 inches.
The record-breaking hailstone came from a supercell thunderstorm that developed on June 2, 2024, in an environment conducive to producing large hail.
The stone was found lying in a roadside ditch by storm tracker Val Castor, who initially thought it was a discarded gallon of milk.
When Castor realized it was a hailstone, he suspected it could be record-breaking.
"As I was chasing this tornadic supercell, I started to notice large hail on the ground the size of softballs, with some still falling sporadically," Castor said. "As I drove past it, I thought there was no way this was a hailstone, but I turned around and went back. As I got closer, it became clear that it was indeed a very large hailstone."
Images he shared with the National Weather Service and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) showed the hailstone was slightly longer than a can of Monster energy drink.
Castor estimated that the hailstone at about 7.25 inches in diameter. However, IBHS later said the stone measured about 7.06 inches using an AI-based technique, or 7.16 inches through detailed photogrammetric analysis.
Because there was no definitive measurement, the most conservative estimate of the hailstone’s diameter was determined to be 7.10 inches.
Based on photographic evidence comparing the hailstone next to objects for reference, along with reliable eyewitness accounts from the event, the SCEC voted unanimously to certify that the stone was 7.1 inches in diameter.
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The largest hailstone ever recorded in the U.S. measured 8 inches in diameter and 18.62 inches in circumference. It was found in Vivian, South Dakota, in 2010.
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