A likely record-breaking hailstone the size of a pineapple has been found in northern Texas, after a major thunderstorm.
The seven-inch piece of hail was discovered by veteran storm chasers Val and Amy Castor on the side of the road on Sunday.
“That’s the biggest hail I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been chasing storms for more than 30 years,” said Val Castor.
His car was hit by several hail stones the size of baseballs, including one that cracked his windscreen.
The large piece was visible in a roadside ditch from almost a hundred metres away, he said.
The huge hailstone is believed to have broken Texas state records, larger than a 6.4 inch piece which rained from the sky in 2021 – but it first needs to be verified by a group of climate researchers.
Hailstones are balls or pieces of ice which form in clouds, when droplets of water freeze. Large thunderclouds can keep hailstones for a long time, so they grow in size as they become coated with more and more ice.
In 2023, over 100 people were injured in northern Italy after tennis-sized hailstones fell from the sky.
One Direction star Louis Tomlinson had to cancel a concert in June 2023 after 90 fans became injured in a hailstorm in Colorado.
The heaviest hailstone on record in the United States had a diameter of 11 inches and weighed close to a kilogram. It was discovered in South Dakota in 2010.
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