Author Topic: (UPDATE)Here's what baseball sized hail will do to your weather station (Read 5240 times)

flyingvranch · « **on:** January 11, 2016, 10:42:18 AM »

We had a severe hail storm the other night. We had actual baseball sized hail pummel our home and ranch for nearly 30 minutes. I had severe damage to our home with roofs destroyed, 14 windows blown completely out, cars reduced to crumpled sheet metal and glass, dead livestock, and so much damage that I don't even know where to start. I'm waiting on insurance adjusters today.

Some of you may recall the pictures to my weather station here http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=27845.0

Now here are some pictures after the storm. My weather station was completely destroyed. Even my commercial grade windsock was completely shredded by the hail stones. My rain gauge is nowhere to be found, and my sensor shelter was uprooted and destroyed. Oddly enough my big solar panel was untouched! Also believe it or not my Davis station is still reporting as normal and even the anemometer is still working! LOL That should attest to the robust Davis design!

I'll have my hands full the next several months rebuilding my home and ranch....

txweather.org · « **Reply #1 on:** January 11, 2016, 10:47:36 AM »

I am so sorry for your troubles and losses, Specially your livestock

But I have gone through this! We had golf ball size and/or bigger hail here in Spring and we had some damage.
But out of all the things that I expected to brake it did not.... My Davis Vantage Vue is intact!

Garth Bock · « **Reply #2 on:** January 11, 2016, 10:50:00 AM »

Holy CRAP ! Sorry for the loss of livestock and the damages to the property. Wow.....Hope everything gets covered by the insurance guy.

DoctorKnow · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2016, 11:24:57 AM »

Wow. Good luck with the recovery.

PaulMy · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2016, 12:23:27 PM »

That is unbelievable... So sorry to hear about loss of animals, property and equipment. The latter can be replaced, but at a cost. Good luck with adjusters.

Quote

Also believe it or not my Davis station is still reporting as normal and even the anemometer is still working! LOL That should attest to the robust Davis design!

You should report this to Davis... and we'll see the write up in a future newsletter edition.

Paul

miraculon · « **Reply #5 on:** January 11, 2016, 12:52:00 PM »

Sorry to hear about the losses to your home, livestock and weather station.

The largest hail I have ever experienced (while safe in a large building) was "golf-ball size". That dented the hood and roof of my truck out in the parking lot. Baseball size is really destructive as your photos bear out. I guess that not much will survive that kind of onslaught.

I am curious, where the hailstones round or misshapen? I have seen photos of larger hail that have all kinds of irregular shapes.

Greg H.

Bushman · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2016, 12:55:06 PM »

Man, that's crazy! Hope you work it all out. (As an aside, I would not want to be an auto insurer in Texas - and not just because of the frequent storms) But South Dakota hold the hailstone record: http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitoring/hailstone.html

flyingvranch · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2016, 01:07:12 PM »

The stones were pretty rounded and smooth. On another note I experienced my first down burst wind event that night also. We were outside trying to nail up some tin over the window openings between the rain & lightning storms. It was dark at about 7:00 PM. I was on a ladder and my wife was holding the flashlight when a huge jet engine sound approached and then a massive wind from straight above knocked us to the ground and actually hurt our ears. It actually picked up the front part of my house and shifted it on the foundation. (Pier & Beam) and cracked our walls. At that point we got up and ran inside and huddled under some blankets till it looked safe. I have never experienced wind coming straight down before. It was cold as hell also for a few minutes. Very creepy.

PaulMy · « **Reply #8 on:** January 11, 2016, 01:29:23 PM »

Quote

(As an aside, I would not want to be an auto insurer in Texas - and not just because of the frequent storms)

We're pretty mild here when it comes to hall, perhaps some crop damage... However our son moved with his family to Australia, Brisbane. And when he went to get insurance for the car he purchased his in-laws had stressed to get weather insurance coverage, and also they went to the local thrift shop and bought some blankets to put in the car to be used whenever there is a hail storm coming which I understand is quite frequent this time of year. The one-car garage holds only the in-laws vehicle

Again, property can be replaced, not so life...

Paul

ValentineWeather · « **Reply #9 on:** January 11, 2016, 01:36:15 PM »

Good luck getting everything back to normal. Hope the insurance company treats you right.

CW2274 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 11, 2016, 02:22:42 PM »

Jeez, surprised you didn't have an EF3 in the middle too........

casa manana · « **Reply #11 on:** January 11, 2016, 03:35:21 PM »

those are awesome photos.

Ian. · « **Reply #12 on:** January 11, 2016, 03:43:46 PM »

I've never seen anything like that.

flyingvranch · « **Reply #13 on:** January 11, 2016, 03:51:19 PM »

I don't feel comfortable posting photos of the damage to my home on the internet. But I will say this, every square inch of the ground is pock marked where the hail exploded on impact. It sort looks like the old moon pictures. The wood on my outdoor decks are pocked and split in just about every square inch. Even the tiniest of things like miniature bird feeders nailed to a tree and a cup and saucer left outside are exploded and shattered.

CW2274 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 11, 2016, 04:12:02 PM »

Shudder to think what one of those would do to the top of one's head.

PaulMy · « **Reply #15 on:** January 11, 2016, 05:21:28 PM »

Quote

The wood on my outdoor decks are pocked and split in just about every square inch. Even the tiniest of things like miniature bird feeders nailed to a tree and a cup and saucer left outside are exploded and shattered.

Was this somewhat of an isolated storm or a large area of damage - i.e. only yours or part of your property, or many properties damaged and does this sort of thing happen just occasionally?

Paul

CW2274 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 11, 2016, 05:37:55 PM »

Quote from: PaulMy on January 11, 2016, 05:21:28 PM

Quote
The wood on my outdoor decks are pocked and split in just about every square inch. Even the tiniest of things like miniature bird feeders nailed to a tree and a cup and saucer left outside are exploded and shattered.
Was this somewhat of an isolated storm or a large area of damage - i.e. only yours or part of your property, or many properties damaged and does this sort of thing happen just occasionally?

Paul

Not to speak for the OP, but in that part of the country, hail damage is always a concern, even this time of year.

ocala · « **Reply #17 on:** January 11, 2016, 06:49:06 PM »

Dam, I feel for ya. That's a lot of damage.

Sincerely hope the insurance covers most of the rebuild.

CNYWeather · « **Reply #18 on:** January 11, 2016, 07:16:07 PM »

Holy crap. Thats unbelievable. I've only experienced pea size in my life. Hope you get everything squared away at your place asap.

Dr Obbins · « **Reply #19 on:** January 11, 2016, 07:50:39 PM »

Quote from: flyingvranch on January 11, 2016, 03:51:19 PM

I don't feel comfortable posting photos of the damage to my home on the internet. But I will say this, every square inch of the ground is pock marked where the hail exploded on impact. It sort looks like the old moon pictures. The wood on my outdoor decks are pocked and split in just about every square inch. Even the tiniest of things like miniature bird feeders nailed to a tree and a cup and saucer left outside are exploded and shattered.

In 1998 I had a storm like that miss me by a only a few miles. Bowling Green, KY took the direct hit. Hail through the roof, through the 2nd floor and into the living room. Many houses had the blue tarps on the roofs 6 months later waiting for repairs. Every car a the dealerships totaled. People drove their cars around town for a few weeks without any windows. $510 million in damage, but amazingly in a city of 50K no injuries.

I remember watching it on live TV. Once the weather crew came out of their basement, they broadcast live as they opened the door. They were amazed and shocked at the carnage they saw in the parking lot - and then it sunk in - "Hey that's my car!!".

Glad your OK and maybe looking at the bright side, your home may get some refurbishments depending on your insurance co. of course.

Andy G · « **Reply #20 on:** January 12, 2016, 01:05:14 AM »

Sorry for the damage and loss. Wishing you the best of luck.

flyingvranch · « **Reply #21 on:** January 17, 2016, 03:12:18 PM »

Well I managed to get everything back together and working again with the exception of the rain gauge which is waiting on parts.

I got the Stevenson screen put back together which was a real pain. All of the slats are floating and if one is out of alignment, none of them fit and they all fall out again.

Fortunately when I originally built it I had a few extra slats which I saved and so I used those to replace the 12 broken ones. Of course my very expensive lab grade mercury thermometers were destroyed so all that remains inside are the Davis temp and humidity sensors.

The ISS unit I repaired with a little silicone and it is still working for now. I did write to Davis about the storm event and bragged on how robust their equipment was but I never got a reply. The only email address that I had was their standard contact form on their website. If anyone has a direct email address to a real person, please send it to me in a PM. The weather station is not covered by my home insurance so I am stuck with the remains of what I have.

Unfortunately my home was pretty much destroyed, but the insurance is treating me right so far and it looks like I will be able to rebuild, but it's going to be a difficult process for sure.
Thank you for all of the concerns and well wishes, but by the grace of God we are still standing and moving forward!
Bud

ValentineWeather · « **Reply #22 on:** January 17, 2016, 03:23:52 PM »

Davis: brianc@davisnet.com
Brian Carpenter

Replacement thermometers on expensive side, https://novalynx.com/store/pc/Temperature-and-Humidity-Store-c98.htm

CW2274 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 17, 2016, 03:42:26 PM »

Glad to see you're getting your life back together. Another contact at Davis is a supervisor named Brett Lane. I have no e-mail for him.
Good luck with everything!

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Author Topic: (UPDATE)Here's what baseball sized hail will do to your weather station (Read 5240 times)