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Hail: Hail in the Barren River Area
Hail reports for the Barren River Area were collected from two sources. The
Historical U.S. Hail Data Archive at the Storm Prediction Center includes
hail reports from 1955 through 1995. Reports after 1995 come from the National
Climatic Data Center's Storm Data publication. Reports of hail events in the 1950s
and 1960s are scarce. Increasing awareness and improved reporting contribute
more numerous reports in recent years, though details concerning damage and
casualties are often incomplete.
The sources identified above include only severe hailstorms. These are storms
that produce hailstones measuring ¾ inch or larger in diameter (Table 6-1) and, as
such, are capable of causing significant damage. Thus the analysis presented
here refers to severe hailstorms. Still, one of the most remarkable hailstorms
in the historical record of the Barren River Area was not designated as a severe
hailstorm. Late in the year, on November 22, 1967, a hailstorm near the Summer
Shade community in Metcalfe County produced marble-size and smaller hailstones
that accumulated to a depth from three to six inches.
Table 6-1. Hail conversion chart.
Diameter of Hailstones
(inches) |
Description |
| 0.50 |
Marble |
| 0.70 |
Dime |
| 0.75 |
Penny |
| 0.88 |
Nickel |
| 1.00 |
Quarter |
| 1.25 |
Half Dollar |
| 1.50 |
Walnut |
| 1.75 |
Golf Ball |
| 2.00 |
Hen Egg |
| 2.50 |
Tennis Ball |
| 2.75 |
Baseball |
| 3.00 |
Tea Cup |
| 4.00 |
Grapefruit |
| 4.50 |
Softball |
Hailstorms are common throughout the Barren River Area. Based only on severe
hailstorms during the period since 1990, the region experiences an average of
3.7 hail days per year. The most active year for hail during this period was
1995 when hail fell on ten days, five of which were in the month of May. Figure
6-1 shows the distribution of hail days and the number of hail reports on those
days from 1955 through 2000. As expected, the larger counties in the region
have been struck more frequently. Also, sparsely populated counties typically
have fewer reports since hailstorms are more likely to go undocumented.
Figure 6-1. Documented hail days and hail reports in the Barren River Area.
Occurrences of severe hailstorms in the Barren River Area follow
expected patterns. They are heavily concentrated in the spring and are very
rare during fall and winter months (Figure 6-2a). More than half of all hail days
occur in April and May, while the period from March through July includes more
almost 90 percent of the total. The majority of hail reports are associated
with storms in the afternoon or early evening hours (Figure 6-2b).
Figure 6-2. Hail days in the Barren River Area by month (a) and hail reports by
time of day (b) based on data from 1955 - 2000.
While most hailstorms produce only small hailstones and cause minimal damage, a
few storms are noteable for the the large hailstones they produced (Table 6-2).
The recent hailstorm of April 16, 1998 is discussed in detail in the next section.
Table 6-2. Hail conversion chart.
| Date |
Counties Affected |
Description of Hailstones |
| 13 Sep 1962 |
Barren |
Baseball |
| 14 Apr 1968 |
Barren |
Baseball |
| 18 Apr 1969 |
Warren |
Tea Cup |
| 18 May 1995 |
Barren, Metcalfe, Warren |
Baseball |
| 28 Mar 1997 |
Barren |
Baseball |
| 16 Apr 1998 |
Logan, Warren |
Baseball |
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