Wednesday’s recap: large hail & tornadoes

Over 127 reports of hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes combined were reported on Wednesday, for the third consecutive day of severe weather. Most of the reports came from the Front Range extending southward to western Texas, but there were a few severe reports along the lower Mississippi River Valley.

83 reports were just from hail. This is a trend we have seen all week, with large hail (about tennis ball size) developing in areas just north of Denver late Tuesday and still large, massive hail stones falling in Yuma County in Colorado, as reported by law enforcement as baseball size on Wednesday.

For the second consecutive day, many cars reported damage to their windows and windshields as the large hail pounded on the vehicles. The hail was a prolonged event in Colorado with reports starting in Colorado at about 11 a.m. local time and continuing to come in through the early afternoon hours.

The tornado reports came in from Colorado during the late afternoon into the evening. There were also a couple of tornadoes reported in Arkansas and Kansas, one crossing a highway and being on the ground for about 30 seconds. Luckily there were no reports of injuries.

Damaging winds caused more widespread headaches. 32 preliminary wind reports extending from southern Tennessee, northern Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and western Texas. A power pole was bent, and trees downed in Springfield, Mo., a similar scenario was reported from Arkansas, and in Kaplan, La., many residents were left without power as storms produced strong winds of at least 70 mph downed power lines and trees.

Thursday will be another day for the severe books. Severe storms will be possible in the central to high Plains with an increased risk of flooding.