(ABOVE: This 2.2" hail stone is nearly the size of a tennis ball. Hail from February 10, 2009 near Meredian, OK. The largest hail I've ever seen is below.)
When I'm out in StormChaser 2 it's my job to get video and report on storm conditions, but I'm also supposed to be smart enough to get out of the way too.
By now you've probably seen the storm chaser video of me chasing last week's severe storms as they moved toward Tulsa. (Note: check the video player on the right side at: http://www.kjrh.com/weather/default.aspx)
Last Tuesday I was hit in the head by a hailstone that rivaled the size of a tennis ball. The pointy ice shards actually drew a small bit of blood in my hair (and drew smart-aleck comments from every colleague at Channel 2). Five days later, I still have a knot on my head and a bruise on my arm from the hail!
No, I wasn't seriously injured or anything close to that, but I wouldn't want it to happen again either! I was scrambling back into SC2 when I ingested the chunk of ice. I sat there quietly and didn't say a word for the next twenty minutes as I was a bit dazed.
(BELOW: Dan Lockhoff took this picture of the top of my head. That red mark is the impact spot where I got hail damaged.)
I don't want to make this too humorous as last week's storms caused death and destruction across parts of Oklahoma, but this is a good example showing that large hail can succeed the gust front of a severe storm. And that you should use more sense and take cover when chunks of ice are falling from the sky! I'm taking my cycling helmet next time...
(BELOW: On May 4, 2003, storm chase partner, Dr. David J. Williams, scooped up this hail stone which is the largest I've ever seen in person. The hail had one hour to melt before the picture was taken as he drove it back to Tulsa. This storm which produced this hail also produced deadly tornadoes in SW Missouri. Despite the caption embedded on the photo the hail was actually slightly larger than pictured here.)
