April 09, 2011 Extreme Hail

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Multiple supercell thunderstorms moved across the Northern and Eastern Midlands during the late afternoon and evening hours on Saturday, April 9, 2011. A stalled frontal boundary extended from near Charlotte southeastward towards the Florence area. The thunderstorms tended to move southeastward and follow along this boundary. The atmosphere was quite unstable and supported continued thunderstorm development into the late evening hours. Numerous reports of large hail were reported to the National Weather Service by law enforcement, trained spotters as well as the public. Multiple storms moved across Lancaster and Chesterfield counties dropping golf ball size hail with some of the larger hailstones measuring the size of baseballs near Lancaster. A few storms moved across Kershaw and Sumter counties also dropping very large hail, up to baseball size near Dalzell. There was considerable damage to vehicles, homes and property included crops.

KCAE Radar Imagery


4 panel showing 0.5 Reflectivity (left panels), Vertically Integrated Liquid or VIL (upper right) and Echo Tops (lower right) associated with baseball hail in Camden. Max VIL was 66 g/kg and Echo Tops were around 52000 ft.	0.5 Reflectivity from the storm moving into the Sumter area at 1010 pm. Baseball hail was associated with this storm at this time. Maximum reflectivity values were in the 70 to 75 dbz range.	Reflectivity volume at 1010 pm of the storm moving towards Sumter when the baseball hail was reported. Notice the very deep hail core represented by the high reflectivity values over 60 dbz (white and pink) extending from around 37000 ft to the surface.

This is a reflectivity volume loop of the storm that moved through the Sumter around shortly after 10 pm. Notice the depth of the high reflectivity core (white and pink) and also the overshooting tops when the updraft intensifies (light blue color)

Storm Photos

Below are some of the pictures of the large hail. Click on the image to view the full size image.