The Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX hailstorm: 5 April 2003

On the evening of 5 April 2003, three supercells traversed northern portions of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas causing over one billion dollars in damage mostly to roofs and automobiles due to large hail. The storms traversed more than 500 km across the state from Snyder to Texarkana, Texas. A hail damage survey team spent several days in the examining roofs and talking to eyewitnesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in an effort to map the hail sizes. Indirect measurements of hail size were derived from examining roof coverings, wooden fences, and metal air conditioners. These indirect measurements were then correlated with ice impact studies conducted in the laboratory. We also measured the sizes of hailstones that persons had kept in their freezers and compared them to radar derived estimates of hail sizes.

This paper will discuss: 1) the meteorology and radar history of the event, 2) our hail damage survey results, 3) the correlation between hail sizes and various indirect measurements, and 4) the correlation between hail sizes and radar derived estimates.