The hail photos in this article could have occurred anywhere in Texas and, despite their size, could be considered typical spring hail photos on the Plains.
But in the early morning of March 9, 2012, 14 years ago today, that huge hailstone fell hawaii.
A supercell thunderstorm dropped large hailstones 2 to 3 inches in diameter on Oahu, as well as large hailstones above.
A resident of Kailua, about 10 miles northeast of Honolulu, saved the giant hailstone. Upon further inspection, National Weather Service meteorologists measured the hailstone to be 4.25 inches long, 2.25 inches tall, and 2 inches wide. About as wide as a softball.
This beat the previous state record for hail of 1 inch in diameter, which is about the size of a quarter.
The same event also produced an EF0 tornado that caused minor damage as a waterspout before coming ashore from Kailua to Lanikai.
The Western Regional Climate Center’s “Hawaii Climate” report states that thunderstorms occur approximately 20-30 days per year somewhere in Hawaii. But they are “so rare that many people who only live in Hawaii have no real understanding of how violent mainland thunderstorms can be.”
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist for Weather.com and has been covering domestic and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. contact him blue sky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.