Hail the Size of Softballs: Carolinas’ Severe Weather Shatters Records

Saturday night, strong thunderstorms moved across the Carolinas, depositing both big and little hailstones that wrecked cars and houses.

The storms left behind peeled-off siding, leaves ripped from trees and shredded plastic fences—extreme hail damage not commonly seen in the Carolinas. In some of the worst-hit locations, heaps of hail had not yet melted by Sunday am. The largest preliminary hail spotter reports were 4.5 inches in diameter at Lumberton, North Carolina, and 4.0 inches at Rock Hill, South Carolina. “This storm will go down in history,” a Rock Hill X user declared.

A 90-mph straight-line wind swath from the same storm also inflicted damage, according to the National Weather Service, from York, South Carolina, to Rock Hill and onto the Lancaster County line.

Should the 4.5-inch report be verified, Corey Davis of the North Carolina Climatologist’s office informed AccuWeather that it would equal the unofficial state record for the biggest hailstone diameter.

“Seven other hailstones with a diameter of 4.5 inches have been recorded by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) for North Carolina, with none larger than that, going back to 1955. “The most recent of these happened in Burke County on May 24, 2000,” Davis stated.

Storms from the same weather system swept into South Carolina the day after the record was established, May 25, 2000, dumping another 4.5-inch hailstone on the town of Florence and causing damage of nearly $6 million. Again on May 10, 2011, several counties tied the state record. The 4 inches reported on Saturday would not upset that state record for South Carolina.

A rare occurrence following significant hail during warm weather, hail fog was also recorded in Rock Hill when locals assessed the damage Saturday night.