Ground-based Hail Sensors: A Case Study of the Dallas March 23rd 2016 Hailstorm

On March 23, 2016, a line of severe thunderstorms brought large hail and strong winds to the Dallas metro area and left an estimated $700 million in property damage in its wake. Understory’s network of ground-based weather stations captured the impact of this storm in real time. Our stations collectively detected and measured the momentum and estimated impact angle and size of hundreds of hail strikes. We find significant variation in the inferred size distributions of hail impacts across the Dallas metro area, with some areas experiencing few but large hail impacts and other areas experiencing many but small hail impacts. We compare our results to radar-based observations and local spotter reports. Finally, we discuss a methodology to combine radar and Understory sensor measurements to produce estimates of hail size between sensors.