• Tornado warning issued in Mass. as storm front marches east

     

    By Jeff Black and Ian Johnston, NBC News

    A tornado warning was issued for parts of Massachusetts on Wednesday evening as a severe weather storm capable of producing a twister was spotted on radar, forecasters said.

    The "dangerous storm" was located near Salem, or 11 miles northeast of Amherst, the National Weather Service warned.

    Residents were told to take cover. No confirmed tornado was spotted, however, and about 45 minutes later the Weather Service changed their warning in the area to one alerting of possible severe thunderstorms with the potential for damaging winds of more than 60 mph.

    The warnings were issued as the same storm front that spawned downpours and deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma marched east, forecasters said.

    An area stretching from the Appalachians into the lower Great Lakes and New England was at "slight risk" of severe thunderstorms Wednesday night into Thursday.

    Stronger and sometimes severe storms carrying gusty winds and hail were seen in southwestern Pennsylvania along the crest of the Appalachian range and into the Lower Great Lakes, according to the Weather Service.

    The areas at risk for thunderstorms included Indianapolis, Columbus, Detroit, Boston and Cleveland but also stretched into Western New York and Connecticut. 

    An earlier threat of possible isolated tornadoes farther west, in Western Ohio into the Tennessee Valley, "appears to have diminished" because of cooling from cloud cover, forecasters said.

    However at least one funnel cloud was reported in central Florida in the town of Viera, according to NBC station WESH TV. 

    The Northern Rockies area — from Northeast Wyoming through Western Montana — could also see storms with severe hail and wind, the Weather Service said.

    The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore tells Brian Williams thunderstorms are now expected from New York and Connecticut down to Tennessee.

    Get more from weather.com

    Weather.com's forecast showed a map outlining the main area of risk, which stretched from Buffalo to Charleston. It also said the main danger would be from high winds and hail, but cautioned there was a “slight risk” of tornadoes.

    "Other showers and thunderstorms are possible from the remainder of the Northeast and Great Lakes into the South," it said.

    "A few isolated severe thunderstorms producing damaging wind gusts and hail are possible in the lower Mississippi Valley. Showers and thunderstorms continue from the Northeast to the Southeast Thursday, although the severe threat is even lower," weather.com added.

    Parts of northeast Kentucky, Ohio, southeast Michigan, western Pennsylvania and western New York were given a 3 out of 10 on Weather.com's tornado probability scale, with 10 representing the highest probability of twisters. The cities of Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Buffalo were all included in this risk area.

    Meanwhile, a tornado rating of 2 was given to Tennessee, most of Kentucky, much of eastern Indiana, parts of southern and eastern Michigan, eastern West Virginia, much of Pennsylvania and much of upstate New York.

    Connecticut was hit by strong storms that caused some damage in northern parts of the state on Tuesday, NBCConnecticut.com reported.

    A storm moved through Copake, New York, just before 5 p.m. and headed southeast through Massachusetts and along the extreme northwest corner of Connecticut, the station said. Downed trees and power lines were found in Falls Village and lightning strikes came close to homes in Cornwall.

    A tree fell on cars in the high school parking lot in Falls Village. "It's just a car. We're just here to make sure all the kids were safe," said Patricia Chamberlain, superintendent, whose car was among those hit.

    Thunder, lightning, high winds and hail were reported in several Conn. towns, including Salisbury, Canaan, South Windsor and Manchester.

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  • Wild spring weather snarls parts of country

    Ed Andrieski / AP

    Two women share an umbrella to ward off snow as they walk the 16th Street Mall during the noon hour in Denver on Wednesday, April 17, 2013.

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Severe thunderstorms, large hail and possible tornadoes menaced a swath of the country from northern Texas to St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, while heavy rains in northern Illinois caused delays at Chicago-area airports and snow made for messy travel in Colorado.


    The National Weather Service issued advisories of all types as harsh weather pelted the middle of the country throughout the day. 

    Much of Oklahoma was under a tornado watch until late Wednesday as intense storms ravaged the Texas-Oklahoma border. That tornado watch extends north through St. Louis and central Illinois.

    "There could be really strong storms later tonight, and that's always scary. That could be the case in central Oklahoma," said Carl Parker, a storm specialist for The Weather Channel.

    A flash flood warning was in effect in northern Illinois, causing airport delays and cancellations. O'Hare International Airport reported delays averaging almost one hour, with more than 300 flight cancellations due to weather, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

    At Chicago Midway International Airport, airlines were reporting some delays of 30 minutes or more, with a few flight cancellations.

    Meanwhile out west, Colorado was still dealing with the lingering effects of heavy snowfall, which had created messy driving conditions. Multiple accidents Wednesday afternoon led the state's Department of Transportation to shutdown westbound traffic for a portion of Interstate 70.

    Inbound flights to Denver International Airport were delayed an average of 2 hours 16 minutes Wednesday evening, according to tracking site FlightAware.com. Outbound flights were experiencing delays of about 45 minutes.

    Areas around Denver were expected to receive 3 to 6 inches of new snow by the end of Wednesday.

  • Plains brace for more wild weather

    A big storm is moving across the US – on one side of the system it's snowy and windy with temperatures below average. Meanwhile, warm air in parts of the Midwest leaves the region bracing for tornadoes. The East Coast, however, experienced record-highs. Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel reports from Aurora, Colo.

    By Erin McClam and John Newland, NBC News

    The storm that dumped snow across parts of the Rockies and northern Plains on Tuesday was expected to bring more severe weather on Wednesday.

    Storm chasers move into Colorado just ahead of wild spring weather as others are fleeing. KUSA's Kevin Torres reports.

    The central and southern Plains areas were at risk for severe weather, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

    Swaths of land from New Mexico to Wisconsin were under winter storm warnings,while parts of Utah were under blizzard warnings.

    According to the National Weather Service, Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls, Texas, were at risk for tornadoes and possible hailstorms Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

    Earlier Tuesday, blizzard warnings were in effect in Colorado, where the temperature plunged more than 50 degrees in less than 24 hours and the wind chill approached zero. Wyoming got more than a foot of snow.

    The culprit is a deep dip in the jet stream that swung west and pulled arctic air far into the country. As it collides with warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, strong storms and tornadoes are possible in the Great Plains and Texas.

    “It’s just brutal to be outside,” said Eric Fisher, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

    Full coverage from Weather.com

    In Denver, the temperature plummeted from 71 degrees at 2 p.m. Monday to 16 degrees at 7 a.m. Tuesday, with a wind chill of 1. More than 250 flights were canceled into and out of Denver on Tuesday alone.

    In Wyoming, authorities closed two stretches of interstate more than 100 miles long — I-25 between Cheyenne and Douglas and I-80 between Laramie and Rawlins. More than a foot of snow fell by midmorning in the city of Lander, and one town near the Nebraska state line reported 2-foot snow drifts.

    Snow was also falling at midday Tuesday in Colorado, Utah, the Dakotas and Minnesota.

    Brennan Linsley / AP

    A man crosses the street during a winter storm that brought snow and a fast plunge in temperature overnight to downtown Denver on Tuesday.

    The calendar may say spring, but April is the second-snowiest month of the year in Denver. The city has averaged 9 inches in April since 1882, second only to the 11.5 inches it gets in an average March, according to the National Weather Service.

    The weather pattern threatened to bring damaging wind, large hail and perhaps tornadoes to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa, and weaker storms later in the day in the Ohio Valley.

    “We’re looking at the gamut today for severe weather,” Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.

    As the system moves east, severe storms are possible Wednesday across a boomerang-shaped swath of the country from the Texas Gulf Coast north through Indiana and into western Pennsylvania.

    Severe storms could move into Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas on Thursday.

    NBC News' Becky Bratu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 4:59 AM EDT

  • Blizzard, possible tornadoes forecast in nasty weather week

    NBC News

    Golf-ball sized hail falls in Rush County, Kan.

    By Kevin Murphy, Reuters

    KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Forecasters called for strong hail and possible tornadoes in western Kansas and a blizzard in four other states on Monday in the first of what are expected to be several days of nasty weather in the middle of the country.

    The blizzard was expected to hit Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming on Monday. An Arctic cold front has triggered winter weather warnings over most of Colorado, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina.

    Much of the country's midsection will face severe storms and a high risk of tornadoes. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Meanwhile, warm air from the south mixing with cold air from Colorado is expected to cause severe weather in western Kansas, including possible tornadoes, said weather service meteorologist Matt Gerard, based in Dodge City, Kansas.

    "It's a clash of air masses going on," Gerard said, adding that forecasts call for large hail in western Kansas.

    Denver and its urban area could get up to 11 inches of snow overnight and through Tuesday, said Kalina. He said temperatures could plunge some 40 degrees from the mid-60s on Monday to well below freezing when the front moves through.

    Areas from Denver to Rapid City, South Dakota; Casper, Wyoming; and Scottsbluff, Nebraska are expected to see blizzard conditions between Monday night and Tuesday, with plunging temperatures, high winds and heavy snow, according to Accuweather.com. The blizzard is forecast to move into north central Nebraska and central Minnesota later Tuesday into Wednesday.

    South Dakota transportation officials advised travelers to move up travel plans to reach intended destinations during daylight hours, and be prepared to stay in until the storm passes. Heavy snowfall is expected, from 3 to 16 inches in the state, with winds up to 40 miles per hour.

    The nasty weather will move toward more populated areas on Tuesday evening, with hail, damaging winds and some possibility of tornadoes predicted around Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, according to Robert Thompson, lead forecaster with the National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

    Forecasters expect the front to hit Arkansas Wednesday afternoon and evening, with a line of thunderstorms expected to bring as much as three inches of rain and damaging winds, according to the National Weather Service.

    The tornado season in the United States typically starts in the Gulf Coast states in the late winter, and then moves north with the warming weather, peaking around May and trailing off by July.

    Additional reporting by Suzi Parker in Arkansas, Keith Coffman in Denver and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Severe storms, large hail cause extensive damage in South

    Rogelio V. Solis / AP

    Golf ball-sized hail litter the ground by Andrew Stamps and his wife Valorie as they prepare to cover their shattered rear window of her 2009 Toyota Avalon in Pearl, Miss., Monday, March 18, 2013, following a hailstorm that hit communities throughout central Mississippi.

    By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Southern states mopped up on Tuesday after a massive storm packing high winds, rain, and fist-sized hail moved across the region, causing substantial damage to homes and vehicles in parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.

    The storm caused two deaths in Georgia, said Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Crystal Paulk-Buchanan on Tuesday, and eight people were injured. One person died in Polk County when a tree fell on a car; the second was killed in Talbot County after a vehicle swerved to avoid a downed tree. Numerous homes were damaged by the hail and some local roads remained shut down.


    Two tornadoes were confirmed in Tennessee near the towns of McEwen and Murfreesboro, the Weather Channel reported.

    Gusts in northern Mississippi were clocked as high as 77 miles per hour, and 17 counties reported substantial damage from the storm, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

    “What I found interesting is that hail is the threat that we don’t talk about that much,” MEMA spokesman Jeff Rent told the Associated Press. “But you can see how destructive it can be in a short amount of time. We got a tough lesson today.”

    The winds made a plaything of one man’s tractor-trailer as it crossed a bridge in northeast Mississippi, picking the big rig up and laying the container portion of the truck on the road below. The truck’s cab remained on the bridge above.

    “The wind just gently picked me up and made me go across the of the bridge banister,” truck driver Joe Sisk told local NBC affiliate WLBT. “And it just laid over on its side, just as pretty as you’d please, as gentle as possible.”

    An elementary school in Clinton, Miss., was closed on Tuesday after roofs over nearly all its classrooms were ventilated by hail.

    “It was baseball-sized hail, and it didn’t start out little,” Clinton resident Jean Weiss told local paper the Clarion-Ledger. “It started out big. People’s back windows were being broken out at our office, and all of our cars have dents in them.”

    Eighteen counties reported “moderate to major damage” to residences and businesses in Alabama, according to the state’s emergency management agency.

    The storm pulled down trees and power lines in Alabama and Georgia, cutting off electricity for thousands of people into Tuesday.

    Georgia Power reported 21,700 customers without power on Tuesday, and Georgia EMC said an additional 11,691 were in the dark. Alabama Power said 103,000 of its customers were without electricity.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Late-season storm slams New England with heavy snow, ice

    Millions are under a winter weather advisory as severe storms charge through the South and bring snow to parts of the Great Plains and into the Northeast. Weather Channel meteorologist Eric Fisher reports.

    By Ian Johnston and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

    A late-season storm that threatened to dump up to a foot of heavy snow right before the start of spring slammed the Northeast on Tuesday.


    The storm brought a burst of heavy snow in southern New England that was replaced by a mix of sleet and freezing rain in Connecticut and Rhode Island through the morning, the National Weather Service said.

    About seven inches had accumulated in parts of Boston by 9 a.m. local time, NBC affiliate WHDH reported. School was canceled in Boston and Worcester, Mass., and residents could expect a mix of rain and snow through Tuesday night, tapering off into flurries on Wednesday morning, according to the weather service.

    More from Weather.com

    With the official arrival of spring only a day away, New Englanders said they had seen enough snow for one winter.

    “I hate it,” Jennifer Hutchins of Concord, N.H., told The Associated Press. “I guess I like to watch it fall, but I don’t like it when it sticks around.”

    Rogelio V. Solis / AP

    Golf-ball sized hail litters the ground as Andrew Stamps and his wife Valorie prepare to cover their car's rear window after the glass was shattered in a hailstorm on Monday in Pearl, Miss.

    "I'm tired of it," Paula Lochhead told the AP. "But we live in New Hampshire, what are you gonna do?"

    A FedEx truck slid off ice-slicked roads in Wallingford, Conn., and narrowly missed slamming into a house as it went down an embankment. The driver of the truck was not seriously harmed, NBC Connecticut reported.

    Snow also hit New York and New Jersey on Monday night, with reports of a number of accidents as drivers tried to negotiate slushy streets, according to NBC New York.

    Some three inches of snow fell on parts of New York City and Long Island before it stopped around midnight, the station said. Suburbs north and west of the city could see 3 to 5 inches before rain sets in. Up to 8 inches were expected at higher elevations in the Poconos, Catskills and Hudson Valley.

    Hail smashes cars, breaks windows in South

    New York state police said they had responded to 80 reports of accidents or disabled vehicles in a four-county region east of the Hudson River, NBC New York reported.

    Forty-eight flights were cancelled at Boston’s Logan Airport and 29 grounded at LaGuardia in New York as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Severe storms, large hail pummel parts of South

    This story was originally published on Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:48 AM EDT

  • Severe storms, large hail pummel parts of South

    Rogelio V. Solis / AP

    Golfball sized hail litter the ground by Andrew Stamps and his wife Valorie as they prepare to cover their shattered rear window of her 2009 Toyota Avalon in Pearl, Miss., March 18, following a hailstorm that hit communities throughout central Mississippi.

    By Holbrook Mohr, The Associated Press

    JACKSON, Miss. — Severe thunderstorms Monday raked across a wide area of the South, packing strong winds, rain and some baseball-size hail.

    In Mississippi, authorities reported two people were hit on the head by large hail as the enormous storm front crossed the region. Fire official Tim Shanks said baseball-sized hail smashed windows in several vehicles in Clinton, where the two people were hit. He had no immediate word on their condition.

    National Weather Service meteorologist Anna Weber said there were reports of hail the size of softballs in some areas around Jackson.


    "This is the time of year that we get hail storms, but hail this size is pretty rare," Weber said.

    Emergency officials said there were reports of downed trees or other damage in 14 Mississippi counties.

    Roads throughout the Jackson area were littered with broken limbs and pine needles, from the hail driving through trees. Cars could be seen driving along the interstate with broken windows and cracked windshields.

    "What I found interesting is that hail is the threat that we don't talk about that much," said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeff Rent. "But you can see how destructive it can be in a short amount of time. We got a tough lesson today."

    Glenn Ezell and his son were putting tarps on the metal roof of their mobile home in Brandon after the storm swept through the area.

    "It started hailing big enough that it come through the roof and broke the sheetrock. It was as big as your fist," he said.

    Millions are under a winter weather advisory as severe storms charge through the South and bring snow to parts of the Great Plains and into the Northeast. Weather Channel meteorologist Eric Fisher reports.

    Meteorologists issued tornado warnings for parts of northwest Georgia and severe thunderstorm warnings around the state.

    Flights were delayed by more than an hour Monday afternoon at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after officials there ordered a ground stop, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

    Downed trees and high winds were also reported in parts of Alabama and Georgia.

    Georgia Power officials said 73,000 customers were without power Monday night, and of that number, 31,000 were in northwest Georgia.

    Elsewhere, Alabama Power officials said 198,000 customers were without power as of 5 p.m.

    In Tennessee, heavy rain helped firefighters contain a wildfire that burned nearly 60 rental cabins in a resort area outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

    The fire forced up to 200 people who had been staying in cabins in the area to evacuate.

    Fire officials had worried earlier that wind-whipped flames might jump a ridgeline and threaten Pigeon Forge, a popular tourism destination that's home to country star Dolly Parton's amusement park, Dollywood.

    Meanwhile snow was moving across much of the Northeast late Monday messing up traffic as it caught many commuters off guard. And Boston announced all public schools would be closed on Tuesday because of the wintry weather — just the day before the official start of spring.

    Associated Press writer Phillip Lucas contributed to this report from Atlanta.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes threaten central states

    The Weather Channel's Maria LaRosa takes a look at the nation's weekend forecast.

    By NBC News staff

    Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes are threatening a swath of the central United States from Iowa to parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, forecasters warned.


    Chris Dolce and Jon Erdman, of weather.com, said the Midwest would be likely hit by storms and showers Saturday morning, but the “greatest concern for severe storms will be from the afternoon through evening.”

    “While the primary severe threats look to be damaging straight-line winds and large hail, the degree of low-level wind shear and instability may spawn isolated tornadoes in these areas,” they added.

    Weather.com said the storm system would continue moving eastward on Sunday.

    “Scattered severe storms may flare again along the cold front with spotty damaging wind gusts and possibly a tornado from the southern Great Lakes southwestward to the Ohio Valley, lower-Mississippi Valley and southeastern Texas,” Dolce and Erdman added.

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  • Tornadoes, golf ball-sized hail hit southern Illinois towns

    The National Weather Service confirms that at least three tornadoes touched down in Illinois Tuesday. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By NBCChicago.com

    Tornadoes and golf ball-sized hail hit several small towns in far southern Illinois on Tuesday.

    Dash cam video from a police squad car caught one funnel cloud as it rolled through Washington County.

    The National Weather Service confirmed that at least three tornadoes touched down but the damage was not severe.

    Read more stories from NBCChicago.com

    A tractor-trailer reportedly overturned and some roofs were damaged, but there were no injuries.

    Five or six other funnel clouds were spotted but those never reached the ground.

    Check out weather.com's tornado risk index

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  • One hurt as storms hit Texas and Oklahoma

    By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

    Storms with lightning, hail and rain rolled through North Texas Friday night, while one person sustained a minor injury as hail the size of baseballs hit parts of Oklahoma.

    In Texas, lightning forced Forth Worth's Mayfest 2012 to shut down Friday night and Texas Christian University also called off its baseball game early, NBC DFW reported.

    In 1995, a huge hailstorm hit Fort Worth. The storm did $1 billion in damage and injured more than 100 people, including a number of people at Mayfest. 

    Barring any more bad weather, the event should be back in business Friday morning, NBC DFW said. 

    The storm triggered a tornado warning in Hood County, but there were no immediate reports of damage there, according to the sheriff. 

    A home in Celina sustained serious damage when strong winds caused a roof to collapse in the Carter Ranch addition, the Collin County sheriff said. 

    Minor damage was reported in Granbury, and some downed trees were reported in Crowley. 

     Meanwhile in Oklahoma, a couple and their grandchild were fleeing the storm in a vehicle when hail smashed a window, injuring one person inside, Tillman County Emergency Management Director Jeffrey Rector told The Associated Press Friday.

    In neighboring Cotton County, a sheriff's dispatcher said a number of cars were damaged as the storm passed through, but there were no reports of injuries.

    NBC News contributed to this report.

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  • 1 dead, 100 injured in St. Louis tent collapse during violent storm

    St. Louis Cardinals fans took a moment to reflect after a night of violent weather, one that left a party tent hanging mangled from railroad tracks. NBC's Katy Tur reports.

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A storm blasting through the city blew away a tent outside a downtown bar, leaving one man dead Saturday afternoon, NBC station KSDK reported.


    Twenty others -- three in critical condition -- were taken to a hospital after the incident at Kilroy’s Sports Bar on South Seventh Street, a couple of blocks south of Busch Stadium, KSDK reported. A total of 100 people received medical treatment, KSDK said. Photos showed the tent impaled on a nearby railroad trestle.

    KSDK via NBC News

    A beer garden tent at Kilroy's Sports Bar near Busch Stadium in St. Louis is shown impaled on a train trestle Saturday after winds blew it away, killing one man and injuring about 100 other people.

    It was not clear whether the man who died was struck during the incident or went into cardiac arrest because of shock, officials said.

    St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told KSDK that a few hundred people were celebrating in the tent after the Cardinals' 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers when the storm hit.

    "We've got severe injuries to quite a few people," Jenkerson said, noting live wires were left on the ground after the tarp tied to galvanized pipes blew away. "We don't like this type of building. It gives us nightmares, and as you can see, it caused one."

    The pipes "beat up" many of the people in the tent, Jenkerson said.

    The tent was set up as a beer garden next to Kilroy's, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

    Eddie Roth, director of the St. Louis Department of Public Safety, said the tent had passed inspection and it didn't appear there would be any violation, although an investigation would continue, The Associated Press reported.

    "I thought a train fell off the track," Art Randall, Kilroy's owner, told the Post-Dispatch. "We all ducked for cover. Everything was going sideways. I had metal chairs ripping across the beer garden."

    "People were pushing and shoving," said Christy Eilermann, 42, of St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch reported. "The wind just picked up and they started dragging people inside."

    Storms packing hail up to baseball-size hail slammed eastern Missouri and western Illinois on Saturday.

    Weather spotters in O’Fallen, Baden and Lebanon, Ill., reported baseball-size hail, 2.75 inches, smashing car windshields and home windows at 4:22 CDT.

    The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of Daviess, Knox and Martin counties in southwest Indiana and severe thunderstorm warnings for east-central Missouri and south-central Illinois.

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  • 4 feet of hail in Texas? Reports, photos cause quite a storm

    Devin Singleton / KAMR

    Meltwater rushes past hail several feet thick on Wednesday off Highway 287 north of Amarillo, Texas.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    Sure, everything's bigger in Texas. But 4 feet of hail from one storm? That's what the National Weather Service, the Texas Department of Transportation, a local sheriff and others say happened Wednesday in an area north of Amarillo when hail piled up in drifts so wide they cut off a major highway.


    The National Weather Service office in Amarillo even posted a photo on its Facebook page, but that wasn't enough to convince skeptics.

    "Serious do not think this is 100% hail!!!" commented one person.

    "It's a lite dusting of hail on some damn rocks," said another person, referring to the image of a firefighter standing next to what could be taken for boulders.

    Potter County Fire Department via NWS

    The National Weather Service's office in Amarillo, Texas, posted this photo Wednesday night of a firefighter standing next to deep hail.

    "I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas," Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the weather service office in Amarillo, told msnbc.com.

    "That was 4 feet of ice" that was compacted by rain and floodwater across a wide area, she added.

    "It was actually the rain/water that caused the drifts," Scotten said. "Anytime you have hail accumulate 2 to 4 feet high and get over three inches of rain, no matter how it occurs, it's pretty incredible."

    As for the darkish color, "we're very dusty around here" due to drought so the hail quickly darkened, Scotten said. 

    The image, she added, was sent by the Potter County Fire Department and Matt Dryden, the firefighter seen in it, is standing where meltwater had cut through the hail.

    "It was like rivers of hail," Dryden told msnbc.com. "It looked like icebergs coming across the highway."

    The Texas Department of Transportation confirms it was deep hail dumped by a storm that dropped visibility to near-zero at times.

    Texas Department of Transportation

    This highway webcam image was taken at 4:10 p.m. local time Wednesday and shows hail on Highway 287.

    "Heavy rain and up to 4 ft of hail has US 287 blocked north of Amarillo," it tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

    The local sheriff concurred as well.

    "You're looking at four foot deep" hail in one stretch, NBC affiliate KAMR-TV quoted Brian Thomas, sheriff of Potter County, as saying. "This was just one of those weird storms that just sat here and came down extremely heavy in this one area."

    Amarillo TV station Pronews 7 even shot video of flash flooding triggered by the pea-sized hail and several inches of rain.

    "It looked like soap suds," said Pronews 7 meteorologist Steve Kersh. "The storm was moving really slow and a combination of the pea-sized hail and four to six inches of rain created those conditions."

    KAMR-TV reported that snow plows were called out to clear roads. Highway 287 was shut down for hours after the storm due to the cleanup.

    Several vehicles got stuck in the flash flooding, and two feet of water also swamped a stretch of Highway 136, the weather service reported. One Chevy Tahoe, a large SUV, got stuck in hail up to its hood, Scotten said.

    Krissy Scotten / National Weather Service

    Covered in dust, this hail drift measured six feet high on April 12 and was still intact a day after it formed near Dumas, Texas, the National Weather Service said.

    The pea-sized hailstones weren't big enough to set any size records, and Scotten said the service doesn't keep records for most hail in a given period.

    But Jose Garcia, chief forecaster at the weather service in Amarillo, told msnbc.com it probably wasn't the most hail the region has seen.

    "Five to 6 feet deep hail" fell in nearby Dalhart, Texas, in 1993 during a very similar storm, he said. It took almost a month for some roads to reopen as the compact ice melted slowly. "It was almost like huge snow drifts," he said.

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