[HN Gopher] The hail in Texas was so big Tuesday that it require...
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The hail in Texas was so big Tuesday that it required a new
description
Author : ortusdux
Score : 38 points
Date : 2024-05-29 21:30 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.washingtonpost.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.washingtonpost.com)
| ortusdux wrote:
| https://archive.ph/20240529204426/https://www.washingtonpost...
| delichon wrote:
| In Texas we call those snowflakes.
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| "Everything's bigger in Texas."
|
| Cue that Hillary Duff video...
|
| https://youtu.be/lt6PVVr4B04?si=SVfSFzdJzdAWOUpc
| dsizzle wrote:
| >Forecasters warned of "DVD-size hail" as stones larger than
| grapefruits...
|
| Not sure what "DVD-size" adds in this subtitle beyond the
| grapefruit reference, especially since a DVD is flat and the hail
| is not
| dylan604 wrote:
| The common grapefruit diameter is smaller than the diameter of
| a DVD. People like to reference the size people in the area
| might be more familiar. When you say grapefruit, I don't think
| of something the size of a DVD. That would be an extra large
| grapefruit based on the sizes and pricing of all of the stores
| that offer grapefruits I have ever seen. The DVD diameter sized
| citrus fruit I'm familiar would be pomelos, and not all stores
| carry them.
|
| If you routinely see grapefruit with the same diameter as a DVD
| that it is a normal measurement for you then, that's great for
| you, but it is not the normal
| adrianmonk wrote:
| They've used quarters as a reference point for forever, and
| coins are also flat, so I guess it's not a problem.
| adolph wrote:
| I don't understand how "DVD" sized hail is different from
| "grapefruit" sized. A DVD is 120mm, or about 4 3/4 inches. A
| grapefruit is "ranges from 100 to 150 mm (4 to 6 inches) in
| diameter, its size depending upon the variety and upon growing
| conditions." [0]
|
| Also, the hail depicted in the image did not appear to be one
| hailstone but an accumulation of several.
|
| 0. https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit
| r2_pilot wrote:
| >Also, the hail depicted in the image did not appear to be one
| hailstone but an accumulation of several.
|
| Concretions of hailstones in the air do occur which is how you
| can get to these larger diameters.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Something this large would have a difficult time forming any
| other way. The sheer weight of it would cause it to not stay
| aloft long enough to get to that size.
|
| Also, does it matter how it was formed? A chunk of ice of
| that size falling from the ground causing damage doesn't care
| if it's a single round ice cube for a really large cocktail
| glass or if it made up of lots of smaller things frozen
| together as a single piece of ice. The object getting hit
| doesn't care of it's formation and makeup either. It's still
| going to hurt. Bad.
| tuckerpo wrote:
| Citing the dimensions of a grapefruit... Hackernews, never
| change
| abadpoli wrote:
| It's different because the National Weather Service uses
| "grapefruit-sized" specifically to refer to hail that is more
| than 4.5 inches in diameter but no more than 5 inches in
| diameter. It isn't "any hail that is about the size of a
| grapefruit".
|
| This hail was bigger than 5 inches, so NWS needed a new term
| for it per their estimation guidelines.
| microtherion wrote:
| Better than Banana sized, I guess.
| pessimizer wrote:
| Also children may not even know what a DVD is, so "new" is a
| reach. In 2034 it's going to be just like saying "8-track
| sized" in 2024.
| itronitron wrote:
| next size up from grapefruit is pomelo I think, then maybe
| durian, or cantelope, then honeydew and watermelon
| rqtwteye wrote:
| Next size up from grapefruit according to ISO is small red
| cabbage, then small green cabbage followed by cantaloupe.
| rufus_foreman wrote:
| As a weatherman, David Letterman once described hail stones
| from a storm as being "the size of canned hams".
| gmuslera wrote:
| Climate is changing so much that is even affecting our language.
| oniony wrote:
| Vetrue.
| ars wrote:
| The article made it seem like the difference is there was
| someone on the ground chasing the hail and documenting it, not
| that it had never occurred before.
| beambot wrote:
| I've been led to believe that if you legislate away any mention
| of "climate change", then it goes away... /s (But for real, if
| you live in Florida.)
| ASUfool wrote:
| Why not use shotput-sized? 4.33 to 5.12 inch diameter [0]
|
| 0. https://www.topendsports.com/resources/equipment/ball-
| size.h...
| diputsmonro wrote:
| I would imagine that more people are familiar with the size of
| DVDs than shotputs.
|
| As a telling piece of evidence, the header image in the article
| you linked doesn't even include one.
| rqtwteye wrote:
| I wonder what this will do to car insurance costs. Sometime in
| the 90s we had monster hail in Munich and the damage to cars was
| in the billions. Years later you could still see cars that had
| tons of dents from that one day.
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| I imagine it's also ugly for unhoused people and homelessness
| has been on the rise for years. So you get beaned by a chunk of
| ice from the sky and now possibly have neurological issues on
| top of whatever else and may not see a doctor.
| ars wrote:
| These storms build up over a period of time, I would imagine
| they would seek shelter under a tree or in a doorway as soon
| as one started up.
|
| Feel bad for livestock though!
| ljf wrote:
| About 25 years ago (about this time of year) I was in
| Sydney, Australia - I was in a hostel and popped to the
| minibus to read their A2Z maps to look up a job I was
| heading to. I was a mild autumn day, maybe 16c.
|
| As I got in the van I heard a clonk, and thought someone
| threw a stone at the van, then another, and another -
| suddenly sweeping down the street was a wall of huge
| hailstones as big as cricket balls - they fell for about 3
| minutes then stopped.
|
| You would have had a short time to run and hide - but if
| you were in a tent it would be horrible and potentially
| dangerous - equally if you were out somewhere open without
| cover.
|
| The damage to roofs and cars was massive. I'm sure they
| gave some exception to driving with broken windscreens as
| so many were broken at one time, that loads of cars
| couldn't get theirs replaced.
|
| Edit - realised their must be a Wikipedia article about it
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm
| phyzome wrote:
| You'd have time to notice a storm of some sort was coming,
| but the actual hail often arrives quite suddenly.
| cl42 wrote:
| The NYT has a great podcast on this[1] -- insurers are refusing
| to insure geographic areas that are seeing a spike in weather
| like this. Not sure if this applies to car insurance, but home
| insurance is definitely changing.
|
| 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-
| daily/climat...
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| https://www.marketplace.org/2024/05/28/are-we-in-the-
| midst-o...
| ortusdux wrote:
| Can hail size be inferred from radar, or is ground truthing the
| only option at this time?
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Can be radar indicated.
|
| https://www.mesonet.org/images/site/Hail_Cheat_Sheet.pdf
|
| https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/detection/
|
| https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.06.002
|
| TLDR Dual-polarisation radar.
|
| (Weather.gov digital weather products are awesome, check them
| out)
| jl6 wrote:
| Should have gone with blu-rayn.
| gorjusborg wrote:
| http://archive.today/0TAMD
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(page generated 2024-05-29 23:01 UTC)