Hail — Jasper, Missouri

2020-05-03 · near Waco, Jasper, Missouri

Event narrative

Severe thunderstorms moved out of southeastern Kansas and produced a swath of hail across Jasper County from Waco to Avilla. Hail from quarter to baseball in size were reported along the path of the storms. In Waco, as the storm entered Missouri, half dollar hail was reported. In Purcell, golf ball to tennis ball hail lasted for nearly 30 minutes causing damage to vehicles and homes. The hail continued across the county impacting Oronogo, where golf ball sized hail occurred, to the eastern edge of the county where ping pong to baseball sized hail fell in Avilla damaging homes and breaking windows out of vehicles.

Damage estimates ranged considerably, partially due to the widespread nature of the hail as well as multiple events over successive days.

Wider weather episode

The first of three rounds of storms occurred as a front interacted with very unstable air to produce numerous severe thunderstorms that caused extensive hail and wind damage over portions of the area. Hail larger than golf balls was reported over the south side of Springfield. As the storms moved from west to east across the area, they transitioned from primarily hail producers to wind producers after passing the Highway 65 corridor.

The second round of storms developed near Topeka, KS and roared southeastward into east-central Missouri in the early afternoon. These storms then impacted the eastern Ozarks during the late afternoon hours, producing substantial straight-line wind damage. The Lebanon Airport anemometer recorded a wind speed of 89 mph before going offline. There were several reports of tornadoes associated with this second line of storms but none could be confirmed.

The final round of severe storms developed in the late afternoon and evening along a warm front over southeast Kansas and far southwest Missouri, producing primarily large hail.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2491, -94.6163)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 893182. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.