July 8th large hail strikes Wichita

Baseball Hail at the Baseball Stadium in Wichita on July 8th 2009

By: Mary-Beth Schreck and Jerilyn Billings

Spectators of the Wichita Wingnuts Baseball game got more than they bargained for when Baseball sized hail fell for about 30 minutes in downtown Wichita on the evening of July 8th. Very large hail, from quarter to baseball sized, fell across the city and impacted many residents, damaging cars and homes.

A line of severe thunderstorms quickly developed over far western Wichita around 8:45pm on Wednesday evening, and slowly moved eastward. Hail up to the size of baseballs was reported in downtown Wichita at 9:30pm. Among other places, large hail fell at the Lawrence-Dumont Stadium and in the College Hill neighborhood. At the stadium, the slow-moving storms caused the baseball size hail to fall for about 30 minutes, covering the field by the time the storm ended. Numerous vehicles were severly damaged in the stadium parking lots, and damage to the stadium itself was also reported.

Golf ball to baseball sized hail was also reported in Augusta and near Rose Hill later that night and large hail continued to fall as these storms continued on eastward overnight. Many locations reported hail falling for 20 to 30 minutes before ending.

TBSS

When large hail is present in a thunderstorm a signature can be seen on a radar image called a Three Body Scatter Spike or TBSS. This is caused by the radar beam being reflected off of the hail causing it to take longer to be returned to the radar. This extra time causes radar reflectivity to be plotted beyond the main reflectivity of the storm, seen as a spike on the radar screen.

Radar reflectivity during the time of baseball hail in downtown Wichita.

Images of Large Hail that Fell around the Area

Hail near Douglas and Charles. Picture Courtesy of Alison Sueper

Cloud Photos from storms Wedesday night

Picture of the large hail producing storm over Wichita. Picture courtesy Brian Johnson

Picture courtesy Brian Johnson