South Dakota May Have Set a New Record for Hail Size

A new weather record for the United States could have been set last week in South Dakota. A hailstone that appears to be 8” in diameter fell in Vivian, South Dakota Friday
afternoon and this would break the record of 7” with fell in Aurora, Nebraska in 2003. Forecasters from the National Weather Service out of Aberdeen, SD will make the drive to Vivian to see if the hailstone officially will break the record. Damage reports range from busted car windows to holes punched through the rooves of houses, even reports of large hail landing on the floor of one resident’s living room.

But the 8” stone may not have been the largest from this day. According to the Rapid City Journal one resident of Vivian, Punk Strom, found a stone that had been outside for over and hour and a half and still weighed 1.8 pounds when he weighed it at the Vivian post office. This would break the record for heaviest hailstone in the United States of 1.6 pounds which fell in Coffeyville, KS in 1970. We should know later today whether or not this hailstone sets a new record for the United States.

Bonnie Brewing.....

A new tropical depression has formed southeast of Miami, FL and could become Bonnie as early as this evening. This system has been struggling to develop over the past couple of days due to an upper level low pressure just east of the surface low. This upper low has been shearing the western side of the circulation keeping it from developing faster. It looks as though this upper low will move off to the northwest but remain close enough to this depression to keep it from developing into a hurricane. The current forecast brings this system into the Texas Gulf Coast late Sunday early Monday as a tropical storm.
The forecast also brings this storm into East Texas providing a chance for cooler weather and the possibility of heavy rains but it must be noted that the average error past four days is over 200 miles. So a lot could and probably will change between now and Monday morning.

Dangerous Heat in East Texas

Dangerous heat is expected across East Texas today as mostly sunny skies warm temperatures in to the middle and upper 90s this afternoon. Combine this heat with the relative humidity across East Texas today and heat index values will range between 103 and 108 degrees. Because of this, heat advisories have been issued for East Texas through tomorrow evening.

Tomorrow will be very hot as well with highs in most places ranging between 97 and 100 degrees with the heat index approaching 110 degrees at times. Once the heat index reaches 105 degrees, the human body has a very hard time cooling itself. Please postpone strenuous outdoor activity until the cooler morning or late evening hours. If you have to be outdoors, wear light weight light colored clothing and drink plenty of water. Heat exhaustion will set in very fast during the afternoon heat. This could lead to heat stroke and possibly death. On average 162 lives are lost due to heat in the United States each year, about the same amount of deaths caused from floods, lightning, and tornadoes combined! Please take the heat seriously and stay cool.