"Wow! Just gorgeous." Those were the words of storm chaser Laura Hedien as she filmed a tornado in the middle of Texas farmland. The video shows the funnel cloud wedged between a sky full of dark clouds and dust swirling on the ground below. According to Heidien's Twitter post, she filmed the twister on June 2 right in the middle of the Texas panhandle by the town of Silverton.
According to the National Weather Service, two tornadoes touched down in the evening alongside hail. The first tornado touched down a little after 7 p.m. north of Amarillo and crossed over Lake Meredith. Although there were reports of debris, authorities said it was mostly brush from shrubs and trees.
#Silverton #Texas #tornado just now. @NWSLubbock @NWSAmarillo pic.twitter.com/yMAevk6Mm0
— Laura Hedien- Storm Clouds Photography (@lhedien) June 3, 2024
Then, authorities confirmed a second tornado around 8 p.m. about 10 miles north of Silverton. This tornado stayed on the ground for about 30 minutes before dissipating about eight miles northeast of Silverton. NWS reported that the tornado produced wind speeds of 25 miles per hour.
The funnel cloud was awesome, but what about the hail
Hail collected from the storms on June 2 near Silverton, Texas, that measured six inches in diameter. Credit: Sam Gardner/Twitter
While NWS and local media outlets reported three-inch hail, Sam Gardner, a storm chaser with the Texas Tech Atmospheric Science Group, shared on social media images of hail measuring much larger. In a post, he said he collected samples around 11 p.m. that measured nearly six inches.
While six inches is big — don't let anybody tell you different — it's not the biggest ever recorded. According to NWS, the largest hail ever recorded was found in Vivian, South Dakota on July 23, 2010. NWS said the record-setting hail measured eight inches in diameter, 18.625 inches in circumference, and weighed 1.9375 pounds. The previous record for hail in the U.S. happened in Aurora, Nebraska, on June 22, 2003. In that case, the hail measured had a circumference of 18.75 inches and weighed 1.67 pounds.
