Hail — Ohio, Kentucky

2025-05-08 · near Render, Ohio, Kentucky

Event narrative

Quarter sized hail was reported in McHenry.

Wider weather episode

On May 8th, 2025, a stationary front was draped across the lower Ohio Valley. South of the front, temperatures warmed into the low-to-mid 70s, allowing for around 2000 J/kg of surface-based CAPE to develop. Effective bulk shear values were fairly modest, around 25-30 kt, across south central Kentucky, though they did increase to around 40 kt over Tennessee. Just to the south of the front, discrete cells developed during the early afternoon hours, developing rapidly as they moved off to the east-southeast. In spite of marginal shear, these cells became supercellular, producing severe hail across south central Kentucky. Mid-level lapse rates of 6.5 to 7 degrees Celsius per km, and significant hail parameter values around 1 suggest that the environment was reasonably supportive of large hail development. Up to golf ball size hail was observed across Ohio County and Green County, with scattered quarter to ping pong ball sized hail observed in between.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.3800, -86.9200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1263263. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.