On the evening of Thursday, April 3, 2014, a supercell thunderstorm parked over Denton, Texas, and pelted the city with hail up to the size of softballs. The National Weather Service logged a 4.25-inch hailstone just west of the Texas Woman's University campus, and the storms left tens of thousands of dented cars and damaged roofs across North Texas.
The Denton hailstorm of April 3, 2014
Storms began firing across North Texas around midday, and by evening the strongest cells had turned rotating. Radar near Krum, just northwest of Denton, showed a mesocyclone, and hail of 1.75 inches fell near Krum around 6 p.m. Denton itself was hit more than once: a 3.5-inch stone was reported at about 8:46 p.m., and the 4.25-inch softball-size stone near TWU at about 9:42 p.m.
Elsewhere, baseball-size hail (2.75 inches) fell in Aubrey and two miles north of Denton, and 2-inch hail hit Frisco, McKinney and Allen. Denton Municipal Airport recorded a wind gust of 82 mph, trees came down in Krum and Denton, and flash flooding put 6 to 8 inches of water on some Denton roads.
Tornado warnings and the tornadoes that touched down
Forecasters issued a tornado warning for Denton County after radar picked up rotation and residents reported funnel clouds. Damage surveys afterwards found the destruction in Denton County came from hail and wind; the confirmed tornadoes that night touched down farther east. The NWS Fort Worth office rated an EF0 at Princeton in Collin County, an EF1 near Merit in Hunt County, and EF0 to EF1 damage around Tira and Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County in the early hours of April 4.
Damage and insurance losses
The Insurance Council of Texas first estimated insured losses at $300 million, then raised the figure to $500 million in early May 2014 as claims kept arriving. It expected the storms to have damaged at least 35,000 vehicles and about 22,000 homes, most of them in and around Denton.
How giant hail forms
Hailstones grow inside thunderstorms with powerful updrafts. A small ice pellet is carried up through cloud full of supercooled water droplets, which freeze onto it in layers. The stronger the updraft, the longer the stone can stay aloft and the bigger it grows; softball-size hail needs updrafts well over 100 mph, which is why supercells produce the largest stones.
The National Weather Service counts hail of 1 inch (quarter size) or larger as severe. For scale, golf ball hail is 1.75 inches, baseball hail 2.75 inches and softball hail around 4 inches. The US record is an 8-inch stone that fell at Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010.
When a hail warning is issued, park under cover if you can and stay indoors away from windows: stones the size of the Denton hail fall fast enough to break windscreens and skylights.
More severe weather: how supercells are defined; a summer hailstorm on a Novosibirsk beach.
Related reading
- January 2014 East Coast Snowstorm in Photos
- Rostov’s January 2014 Snowdrifts: The Full Photo Gallery
- Snow Roller: A Strange Meteorological Phenomenon
- Texas Flowers Encased in Ice: Colour beneath a Clear Coating
- Frost Flowers on Lake Ice: A Delicate Surface Pattern
Sources
- National Weather Service Fort Worth: Severe weather of April 3–4, 2014
- Business Insurance: Texas hail damage estimate increased to $500 million
- Videos: Denton hail storm (Richard Whyte); Denton Texas Tornado April 3ed 2014 (Stephan); Hail Storm Denton, TX April 3rd (Brandon Tyler)
- Photographs: shared by Denton residents on social media in April 2014
apocalypse? lol, you guys are funny over there^^
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