E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
WxRisk.com
WxRisk.com, a private weather forecasting firm, posted this photo from the hail overnight in Madison, Kan., on its Facebook page.
A storm system that could spawn twisters in the central U.S. on Thursday already did some damage overnight in Madison, Kan., where softball-sized hail smashed car windshields.
A twister nearly formed near the town just after midnight, the national Storm Prediction Center noted, but the biggest impact was from hail.
"That was a HUGE bow-hook, a monster funnel cloud," WxRisk.com, a private weather forecasting firm, posted on its Facebook page. "Hail in excess of 4.25 in. Slightly larger than softballs at times."
The firm said one of three storm cells that moved through the town of 700 "produced monster-size hail for almost 30 minutes ... lots of reports of cars and structures being damaged due to the large hail. Tennis-ball hail, CD hail, Soft-ball hail, and even larger."
The dumping didn't, however, break any U.S. records. A hailstone that hit Vivian, S.D., on July 23, 2010, holds the record for largest diameter (8 inches) and for weight (1.938 pounds). A hailstone in Aurora, Neb., on June 22, 2003, has the largest circumference (18.75 inches).
Hailstone in Hawaii largest on record there
Large hail pounded other parts of Kansas overnight as well, and the forecast for Thursday had much of the region, including Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, with a high chance of severe weather, weather.com reported.
"We're getting into that time of year when we get severe thunderstorms just about every day," said Greg Forbes, weather.com's severe weather expert.
The storm system will trigger strong storms in the Ohio Valley on Friday, weather.com forecast.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Leave a Comment:
Yup. No signs of global warming. Move along people, nothing to see here.
You wouldn't sound like such an idiot if you knew the difference between "climate" and "weather"
If you haven't grasped the basics by now, you're too stupid to discuss it anyway.
Move along, tiggle.
Uh... Klone,
You may want to rethink your "stupidity" remark, for it tis' you who does NOT understand that weather is a result of climate. As climate changes the weather changes... DOAH!
Mike, weather is an individual event, like a cool day in the summer or a warm day in the winter. Or a hailstorm. Climate is an average of all the weather events for a given time period.
I'm sure you'll learn some of this when you start school.
And there's no need to rethink my remark, it still stands for him, and now for you, too.
Once, just once, I would love to see a weather article posted on msnbc without the first post being the start of the inevitable and ubiquitous global warming circle-jerk.
No single event can be pegged as a result of climate. Only averages can.
Klone is correct in this regard.
You know global warming is just the warming of the earth and this has been going on since the end of the ice age. I guess if it was such a big deal than you leader Al Gore would cut his carbon foot print, that's not happening as he uses more electricity than 20 homes. It is all just BS so our government can push more regulations on certin industries.
The one thing that klone needs to learn is a little civility. Calling people stupid and idiots and suggesting they haven't started school yet is no way to convince anyone that you know anything. These are usually the tools of a person who is used to winning argumnents through bullying and intimidation rather than by formulating good arguments based on good information and a good understanding of that information. It also suggests an immature and insecure personality. Move along, klone.
And by the way, klone, "weather" is not a single event. A storm is a single event.
This is why it's called Anthropological Global Warming (i.e. man-made).
Wow. Sensitive topic.
The point I was trying to make is to ask, "how hard is it to realize that we are the cause of accelerating global temperatures which leads to more severe weather phenomenon?"
Please tell me you folks out there don't believe that as we quickly burn the fossil fuels and release the large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere that we are having no effect on our global climate. As scientists model the changes in temperature and compare them to past temperatures, they can show our temperatures rise at a rate that can only be driven by man-made causes.
Dorthy , Close the Curtain !!!....
I believe the earth does what it wants with the climate. We can't affect what has been happening for millions upon millions of years. The earth could chew humans up, melt the face of the planet with lava, and rebuild a planet full of plants and animals if it so desired.
You all stop the fighting as Inhofe says God is in charge and this is all his plan!!
So we have on responsibility or impact on the weather!!
I don't want to take responsibility. I won't take responsibility. It's the Earth's fault. It's God's fault. It's everybody's fault, but me. I DIDN'T DO IT!
Ruken,
it's a minor thing, but the proper term is anthropogenic. You are absolutely correct as to it's meaning and in regard to the fact that it is indeed happening for that reason.
Simplton,
"God is in charge and this is all his plan!!"
I can just picture God sitting up there in outer space or wherever he lives and saying to himself, "In the old days I used to send natural disasters as a warning to people to change their ways. But nowadays, most people just say, 'Oh, there's a scientific explanation for this'. So my warnings no longer have any effect on them. I guess in that case I'll just have to destroy them all." :)
The earth will be fine...it's humans that will be gone, except for the 1% a few 99'ers who serve as their slaves.
Bill1488
Hmmm maybe you global warming naysayers might want to peruse NASA's site on climate change evidence. Think I'll believe NASA and not you Bill...
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Can't make @!$%# like this up. People are still bent on protecting a principle(Reducing Our Impact Sources) on which it follows that in doing so, all aspects of Life On Earth become enhanced.
Amazing.
Well, I gotta get my Polar Bear to close the Freezer door. He just leaves it open all the time. I don't think he realizes the severity of Climate disruption(BTW, I believe that Nature is also taking its course in participating in these changes).
He sure goes in the Freezer alot these days...
;-))
Peace
I'm going to start a business marketing wire cage car covers for tornado alley.
"Hail in the forecast? Don't have a garage? Well, for less than the cost of a windshield replacement or costly body work, this hail defense system can be yours!"
Feel free to steal my idea, I'm far too lazy and unmotivated to actually do anything about it in real life.
Chris, thanks for the humor. It is a good idea, hope someone picks up on it and makes it work.
The only problem is the part where it says "for less than the cost of a windshield replacement..." It would be too bulky and cost too much in my opinion.
Chris - "I'm far too lazy and unmotivated to actually do anything about it in real life."
Do you know my wife? She's always accusing me of being the same way. Let's go drink some beers and come up with great ideas.
Democrat?
I wonder if the insurance companies will pay for the damages. They dont want to pay for anything else so why start here.
If you carry the right insurance sure they will as well as covering the dings in the bodywork after a hailstorm.
Depends on what you buy for insurance. You could insure the air freshener in your car if you wanted, just so long as you pay for it.
Basic car insurance (liability) won't cover hail damage, but if you included comprehensive with glass on your policy, you're fine.
they will, when i was a kid back in july of 1979, ironically on the 3rd anniv. of the big thompson flood which killed so many, a deadly hail storm struck fort collins, colorado,
we had what is still one of the worst hail storms on record and sadly even includes the death of one child. dozens with broken bones, what was then tens of millions in damage would have been hundreds of millions if not more now thanks to inflation and population growth. literally the small hail stones were baseball sized with the largest on the south side of town being grapefruit size. i was riding my bike home when it hit and had to throw it down and run for cover. it ripped the spokes out of my wheels, i watched as a cat running for cover was killed. that said, all the hail damage to buildings, cars and injuries to people was covered by insurance. sadly though the child whose mother could not get to cover fast enough was killed in her arms, one thing nothing, no one can ever bring back or make better.
Don't insurance companies pay for acts of God? Not sure but I believe hail was one of the plagues on Egypt. Verdad, anybody?
Let's see. "...and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt..."
YES, we still measure Hail by comparison to the size of athletic balls and tumors by comparison to fruits and nuts...
Dunno, I've heard them both pretty interchangeably... "golf-ball sized tumor", "grapefruit-sized hail", "watermelon-size testicles". Well, maybe the last one is just me...
Must be difficult to walk.
I drive them around in front of me in a Power Wheels hummer with chrome wheels.
It is clear that God has looked unfavorably upon the people of Kansas and has brought His wrath to bear. This is time for the people of Kansas to repent for their misgivings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praise be unto Him. †
Seriously? I hope you just forgot to use the sarcasm tag.
Isn't Kansas a red state?
Moron.
Al, it's just weather, God has nothing to do with it. Still rockin' the Old Testament I see.
Big Al
As usual your post is so far out there all I can say is WOW!!!
Big Al - comment #5 - I think God is angry with Kansas for choosing Santorum!
this is such total excrement. we were told that "industry "and "overpopulation" were causing a decline in temp,which would yield a new ice age in the 70's . this was not to be disputed. scaring kids at school ,old folks etc. now we are told the science is clear that an impending doom is coming that is just the opposite , global warming. and guess what ,it is caused by ... you guessed it "industry" and "overpopulation" we were even told that overpopulation was so bad, that by 1990 we would be virtually out of most things.
have you ever flown across america?? you can fly for hundreds of miles without seeing a soul . we are told that carbon in the air is bad, this is a total lie, it feeds plants. we have a increase in plant life ,because we release the carbon from fossil fuel by burning them.
these mindless twits never think on their own, they believe what is served. rachel carson effectively eliminated DDT which allowed a few hundred million to die from insect bourne disease . now we are finding out she lied. DDT is coming back. do your research you will find i am right. hydroelectric and nuclear power are the cleanest and safest. now they are targeted for destruction. this is not about the environment or energy, it is about control and power. why do we allow others to control us ? look at stalin ,mao, mussolini,hitler and many others. the people allowed this to happen , these guys were slime parasites moa was a bum, hitler couldn't get a job, mussolini hated working . they are using people to gain power. dont buy into the lies. they want us to throw away our freedom and our constitution, obama is doing this as we speak. ron paul is feared by the real power brokers, this is why the media is telling you he is unelectable. they say he is bad on foreign policy, really. what group knows the most about this area? the military ! they have supported ron paul overwhelmingly . think about what that means, why does the establishment try to discredit ron paul . answer: he will take their power.
Not a lot of people live at 30,000 feet.
The moa was a large flightless bird of New Zealand, now extinct, most likely due to over hunting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa
Where are Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell's news conferences condemning Kansans for God's hailstorm because the people of Kansas voted for Rick Santorum and this was his wrath. Makes sense to me..tee hee.
When events like this happen in the "Bible Belt", you won't hear a peep out of the fundie pastors. BTW, Jerry Falwell is dead.
Jerry died on my birthday. It beat all the cards I got.
The Climategateers are out in full force today and beating their drums again. Global warming is the greatest hoax ever in the history of mankind born out of a unholy mix of junk science, green hype, corporate greed and political opportunism,and the most expensive ---- leading to mass hysteria to those who cannot or will not think for themselves.
If the global warming folks would spend a little research time they would see that the earth has been cycling through cold climate to hot climate to cold climate since prehistoric days. It seems we are just now starting to go from the cold event to the warm event. In other words, nature is on its normal course.
If the denialists would do a little research they could quickly discover that the rate at which the climate is presently changing is not like anything which has ever happened before and can only be explained by human activities which are altering the atmosphere.
Yes, US has set nearly 7000 all time daily high temps in 2012. Ratio of high vs. low daily temp records is 17:1. I'm sure this is totally normal, and the burning of 89,000,000 barrels of oil each day and 14,000,000 tons of coal per day has absolutely no impact on Earth's climate. Just stick your heads back in the sands of denial. I'm sure it'll all work out just fine... for oil and coal companies.
Do I have this right?
You're saying that extreme warm weather events confirm global warming but extreme cold weather events do not mean there is no global warming.
That's more than a little bit inconsistent.
What's "inconsistent" is the ratio of cold temp records to hot temp records. A stable climate would have far fewer record breaking temperatures and the ratio would be much closer to 1:1. What will you say when every historical high temp is dated 1990 to the present? One gallon of combusted gasoline produces 20 pounds of CO2. Do the math. Humans are adding billions of tons of CO2 to the troposphere every year and have been since WWII.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2012/1
According to NOAA January and February this year are only the 19th and 20th warmest on record respectively. We'll see how March plays out.
And that ends another episode of "What Do the Experts Have To Say?" Join us tomorrow when our topic will be "Do turnips really bleed?"
God is very angry at Kansas. It must be because of the tea baggers.
It's not a straight line. If you look at how many of the 20 warmest Jan's and Feb's on record occur between 1990 and 2012, you see that there is a huge over representation from the last 22 years of the historical record.
Paul Douglas, a Republican meteorologist, says it best, "Human emissions have grown significantly over the past 200 years, and now exceed 27 billion tons of carbon dioxide, annually. To pretend this isn’t having any effect on the 12-mile thin atmosphere overhead is to throw all logic and common sense out the window."
CO2 takes over 100 years to get sequestered out of the atmosphere and the Earth's oceans. Can you see why we should probably take our foot off the fossil fuel accelerator?
If you have followed that then you understand that the past 7 years or so has not seen an increase in global temperatures in spite of the continuing increase in atmospheric CO2. The anthropogenic CO2 forcing model for global warming is falling apart.
Didn't God attack Branson last month?
Not a good year for the fake christians.
Circumference = Pi X diameter, where Pi ~ 3.14. Assuming the record hailstones reported in this article were circular, how is it possible for one to hold the record for "largest diameter" (8 inches) but not hold the record for "largest circumference"?
I'm going to guess that they have to take an average of several circumferential measurements on each contender for the record, since some hailstones are shaped more like flat pumpkins, and some are quite round. The largest diameter record could refer to a flatter-shaped one.
I wonder... during such storms in the nation's capital, do NFL fans sing "Hail to the Redskins"?
go back to english class for a lesson on homonyms.
weath·er
NOUN:
cli·mate
NOUN:
"The weather right now is stormy with hail as big as softballs which is unusual even for our climate in spring."
Does that help?
"This just in....
Said hailstone was later arrested for vandalism."
It took only 14 post before "God" entered the discussion of a non-religious topic.
I wonder if that's a Newsvine record?
I think I'll find & post an article about baking chocolate chip cookies, or changing a car tire, just to see how long it takes for somone to start throwing religion into it.
Sam Kinison once reported that The Lord told Pat Robertson to check his tire pressure, right after He told him to run for President.
peter grunted as he set the last bolt..., All those nay sayers would pay for doughting his bouble barrel iceball cannon would ever work. he would show them all, not only will it work he thought, but its full auto and can burst fire over 6000 iceballs per second per barrel!!! It was just a matter of waiting for a good looking storm so he could test it but not get blamed for any damages.... later as he read the artical in the news of the "freak" hail storm over in Kansas he smiled a shrewed smile then whistled...man, that thing had way more range then he could have wiched for!!!
In teaching Meteorology and storm-chasing for many years, Koali did a good thing to post the dictionary definitions of "weather" and "climate".
Weather is the atmospheric conditions at any particular moment. The wonderful adage "If you don't like the weather here in <enter your location here>, wait fifteen minutes" gives a good example of the use of the term "weather".
Climate on the other hand is a block of atmospheric conditions over a long period of time. In most scientific disciplines that "period of time" is twenty-five years. So, what is the climate in Kansas? Well, let's take a look at the weather conditions over the past twenty-five years and formulate the climate....for night time, day time, each of the seasons, etc....
As a former Kansan, the weather did get crazy, but hey, that's Kansas.
Now for "climate change". That topic is so controversial that even the science community cannot agree. Insert rhetoric here...."show me a scientist that believes in climate change and I'll (not really ME) show you another who does not.
Yes, there is climate change, but there is evidence that shows that the earth has experienced climate change (without man) in the past. Oh and there is evidence that shows that no climate change has taken place in many parts of the world. Around the globe we are seeing increased temperatures in highly urbanized areas. These places are called "heat islands" and are induced by asphalt, concrete, glass buildings, dark roofs, etc.... but please remember that this planet is quite large (in comparison to people) and most of the earth's surface is not urbanized.
Now for my stance (oh I must be out of my mind for even bringing it up...LOL) but I can honestly say that I'm....gulp....kind of wishy washy. I truly believe (both personally and scientifically) that the earth undergoes cycles (El Nino, La Nina, Pacific Oscillations, etc.). But yes, humans have made many unfavorable choices in their stewardship of the land. I like to think that my family and I are trying to be good stewards, but even we make mistakes.
Now to try to bring this article back on track....."Those are some huge ice bombs."
Let's all enjoy life and get outside and enjoy the weather. Peace and Joy!
Wow Hellstones.... Broken windshield, dented cars, dented sidings, airplanes in flight knocked from the sky...
I just would not want to run into these. They'd put the kabosh on your head if one hit you... at 14ft per second it would be a big oweeeee for sure...
The planet has history of having ben a tropical paradise as well as a frozen hell hole in it's time. Shifiting in th direction of either would just be a repeat of cyccles it's been through time and time again...
Climate change is a natural occurence, the only thing is to guess whether man's fossil fuel buring and chemical activity has had some influence upon the change cycle. Our temperature records through hisory seem to indicate it but the truth is our records are limited. Long term natural records such as tree growth rings, glacial and polar ice shelves provide some insight over longer periods. Fossils in the form of coil and other geologic deposits and layering also indicates periodicity to climate change. One can safely say climates are changing, seemingly more rapidly than our records have ever shown but in truth we just don't know. Frozen Wooly Mamoths stomach contents show that many had eaten green grazing shortly before heir demise indicating a quick freezing cycle...
But those hellstones, wow...
civility please ------ put your junk science (comic) books away, global warming is our friend as it produces over abundant crops to feed a starving world whereas if it were cool as you wish, there would be no crops and the world would starve. Now -----------what's it going to be?
The global warning and green gases house effect are coming at our doors.