I remember this one very well. I was safely at home about 15 miles away watching the TV. Channel 5 had a camera pointed out onto the studio's parking lot. I just sat there watching the hail beat the hell out of the station employees' cars. What a mess.North Texas has epic hail storms. I remember one year there was an outdoor event in Fort Worth. Everyone ran for their cars. The hail was softball sized and tore up tents and completely punched through windshields.
Edited to add: Found it on wikipedia
1995 Mayfest Storm - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
The 1995 Fort Worth Mayfest stormwas a supercell storm that occurred on the 5–6 May in the Fort Worth and Tarrant County areas of Texas. It affected a highly populated area with hail up to 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter, as well as striking the local outdoor festival known as the Fort Worth Mayfest. At the time the storm was the costliest hailstorm in the United States history,causing more than $2 billion in damage. The hail injured at least 100 people, and flash flooding and lightningfrom the same storm killed at least 13 people.
I went to Fort Worth to catch a plane for a trip to Hawaii at DFW in a couple of days. We got to the hotel about 30 minutes before the storm. The parking garage was full and I had to park on the top floor, exposed. The Mayfest was just outside the hotel. We watched from the window as the hail tore through the fabric tents and saw people running away to cover. I was afraid the hail would kill someone it was so big. Our car was a Toyota Previa. Every body panel had multiple dents and every glass was broken, including 3 large holes in the windshield - remember softball size hail. Early the next morning I drove to Sherman, TX as all the repair places in the Dallas Metroplex were full, but the guy, friend of my uncle, in Sherman thought he could get a windshield replacement. My cousin drove me back to the hotel and we left for Hawaii the next day. Came back 10 days later and the windshield had been replaced so we could drive it. Surprising how that worked out but my wife has a major prayer line to God. Insurance wound up paying over $10000 to replace the exterior of the car because it was $300 less than totaling it.North Texas has epic hail storms. I remember one year there was an outdoor event in Fort Worth. Everyone ran for their cars. The hail was softball sized and tore up tents and completely punched through windshields.
Edited to add: Found it on wikipedia
1995 Mayfest Storm - Wikipedia
The 1995 Fort Worth Mayfest stormwas a supercell storm that occurred on the 5–6 May in the Fort Worth and Tarrant County areas of Texas. It affected a highly populated area with hail up to 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter, as well as striking the local outdoor festival known as the Fort Worth Mayfest. At the time the storm was the costliest hailstorm in the United States history, causing more than $2 billion in damage. The hail injured at least 100 people, and flash flooding and lightning from the same storm killed at least 13 people.
INTENSITY | GENERAL DAMAGE DESCRIPTION | RANGE | SIZE |
H-0 | None. | 0.2”-0.4” |
|
H-1 | Makes holes in leaves and flower plants. | 0.2”-0.8” |
|
H-2 | Strips leaves from plants and damages vegetables. | 0.2”-1.2” |
|
H-3 | Breaks glass panes, scrapes paint, marks woodwork, dents trailers, tears tents. | 0.4”-1.8” |
|
H-4 | Breaks windows, cracks window screens, scrapes off paint, kills chickens and small birds. | 0.6”-2.4” |
|
H-5 | Breaks some roof tiles and slates, dents cars, strips bark off trees, cuts branches from trees, kills small animals. | 0.8”-3.0” |
|
H-6 | Shingled roofs are breached, breaks away window frames, metal is scored. | 1.2”-3.9” |
|
H-7 | Roofs are shattered to expose rafters, breaks window frames, seriously damages cars. | 1.8”-4.9” |
|
H-8 | Shingle and tiled roofs are destroyed, cracks concrete roofs, small tree trunks split and knocked down, marks pavement, people at risk of serious bodily injuries. | 2.4”-5.0” |
|
H-9 | Concrete roofs are broken, marks concrete walls, makes holes in walls of wooden houses, large tree trunks are split and knocked down, people at risk of fatal injury. | 3.2”-5.0”+ |
|
H-10 | Brick houses are damaged, destroys wooden houses, people at risk of fatal injuries. | 4.0”-7.0”+ |
|
We had a spring hailstorm here in Alberta this week and it was so funny watching two people in a golf cart flying by our place at 60mph on the trail back to the clubhouse. Clutching the clubs in the back and holding their hoods up on their jackets, and driver hunched over the steering wheel. Tiny stinging hail! Golfers!!
