Record Hailstone Found Via Social Media in U.S.

Source

After a huge hailstorm on Sept. 15, 2010, a Topeka, Kan., meteorologist took to social media to read what people were saying about the severe weather. What he found would go into the city's weather record books.

Scott Blair found photos of one massive hailstone after the other, including one whose diameter was more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) larger than the largest ever found in the state, reported the Wichita Eagle.

The finding highlights a new trend in weather reports on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter that is helping meteorologists better document everything from tornadoes to lightning. Five of the largest hailstones on record in the United States have been found since 2003, due in part to the rise in social media, the Eagle reported.

Holy crap!!

Imagine being outside in a storm and seeing these things fall around you? Wow!

I have heard stories of large chucks of ice falling randomly out of nowhere, but this one is different because it can be attributed to an actual storm. Rarely do we see hail stones anything near this size.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

Maybe those Hobbit hole/ storage container homes aren't such a bad idea to get on board with.
I prefer Hobbit holes.

That is one massive piece of hail.. it sort of looks like a fish.
Social media can be used for some positive things like this, and helping to spread word about potential disasters.

reply to post by predator0187
Nice. That makes me think of the OKC hailstorm, but the hail then was only baseball sized.

If the Oklahoma hail can do the below to a swimming pool, think what a whole storm of those monsters would look like...skip to about 1.30 for the fun stuff:

Originally posted by predator0187
Any thoughts?

...hide me?