UPDATE: Giant Arkansas Hail Falls Short of State Record, Investigation Finds

Dangerous Night Of Storms, Tornadoes In North Texas

An Arkansas hailstorm on June 19 produced giant hailstones larger than grapefruits, which were found to be just short of a state record.

Severe thunderstorms pelted parts of Polk County, Arkansas, about 120 miles west-southwest of Little Rock near the Oklahoma border, last Wednesday evening.

(MORE: The U.S. Has a Hail Alley)

Several residents posted photos on social media of hailstones ranging from tennis ball to larger than softball-size in the towns of Cove and Vandervoort.

A team of researchers from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety traveled to Polk County, Wednesday to measure hailstones preserved in a freezer by Jason and Danielle Jopling.

Measuring the diameter, weight, and taking 3D scans, the IBHS team found the hail was roughly 4.6 inches in diameter, slightly smaller than the state record 5-inch diameter hailstones on Jan. 21, 1999 and April 2, 2006, according to the National Weather Service office in Little Rock.

The giant hail busted windshields, left divots in yards, and reportedly killed one calf.

The IBHS is conducting a multi-year study to help builders and homeowners lessen the damage from hailstorms.

Since 1980, softball-sized hail (4-inch diameter) or larger has been reported, on average, once every other year in Arkansas, according to the NWS-Little Rock.

In 2018, only 18 of 4,611 total U.S. reports of hail documented by the National Weather Service were 4-inch diameter hailstones or larger.

Alabama set a new state record in March 2018, when a hailstone more than 5 inches in diameter was captured and preserved near Cullman.

(CAT. 6 BLOG: Record Hail in the U.S.)

The nation's largest hail by diameter and weight ever documented was an 8-inch stone weighing 1.94 pounds near Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010.