World’s Largest Hailstones World’s Largest Hailstones Large hail
has accompanied the recent spate of tornado outbreaks across the
U.S. including stones 4.5” in diameter in the Abilene, Texas
area on April 24 and possible state records for largest
hailstone on record in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee,
and Virginia during just this past month. This blog is a revue
of the greatest hailstorms on record and the largest individual
stones yet measured. Hailstorms and Hailstone Size in the U.S.A.
There have been a handful of hailstorms that resulted in $1
billion or more in damages in the U.S. The costliest storm
appears to be that of April 10, 2001 which cut a swath along the
I-70 corridor from eastern Kansas to southwestern Illinois and
pounded the St. Louis area. Property damage was in excess of
$2.4 billion in 2010 dollars. The hailstorm that struck the
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas metro area on May 5, 1995 also caused an
estimated $2 billion in damage (adjusted to current dollars).
The only other $1 billion d