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.