Incredible hailstorm

[BB_TX]

We got lucky. Neighboring towns didn't. Storm began south of Wichita Falls, moved east southeast passing about 20-25 miles north of Dallas (we are 30 miles north of Dallas), and continued into far east Texas, dropping large hail non stop the entire path, some 200 miles or so. Some places got grapefruit and larger size hail that went thru S&B roof decking and ceilings before landing in the floor. You can imagine vehicle damage. Fortunately we only got a small amount of pea size. Feel sorry for those in the direct path. Been there, done that.

[bigskyjimmy]

yeah i just saw that on the News and that is unbelievable and Scary as we do not see hail that big in the NW,I saw one pic of a baseball sized hail ball stuck into a windshield,hope all the folks out there make it through OK,the insurance companies are going to be real BUSY

[pkbridges77]

So BB, what do you do when you're living in your Monty and are faced with that kind of possibility? Do you pack up and get out or do you wait it out and pray for the best? Handling severe weather responsibly is actually one of my greatest concerns in our transition to full timing.

[lostshakerofsalt]

We are fulltime and currently in Aledo, TX (~10 miles west of Fort Worth). We watched the storm travel north of us and were glad it missed us. Our original plan was that since our house is on wheels, we get out of the way of bad weather. In reality it is not so cut and dried. What we do when bad weather comes all depends on how much notice we have. If there is time to get out of town, we do it, if not, we look for the storm shelter and hope it does not do any damage to the rig.

Last spring (2015) we were here in Aledo when we had about 5 straight days of severe weather developing west of us and passing right over us. Some days there would be 80+mph straight line winds. Unfortunately, the storms would not pop up until about 3PM and by then it was too late to move. The storms would be moving east at around 50mph so heading east was not an option, the storms would bend in a C shape north and south of us so heading one of those directions was not an option, obviously heading west into the storm would be suicidal. All we could do was grab the doggies and head for the storm shelter.

[BB_TX]

The problem in this area is the unpredictable nature of the storms. Often they will pop up in a matter of minutes, often forming isolated super cells, the worse kind. Isolated meaning they are individual storms maybe 30-50 miles across and not part of a large storm front. Then they typically (but not always) move in a generally northeasterly direction. But they may travel east or southeast. And the supercells may last 30 minutes before falling apart. Or they may go on for hours. And if they do fall apart, frequently others will suddenly form in any given direction. So you may head one direction to miss the first one only to end up directly in the path of a new one. A line of these things often form in a line from OK to central TX. These are frequently accompanied with winds exceeding 50-60 mph. And random tornados often show up also.

When these type storms begin, the local TV networks often go full time reporting on what is happening. And we typically watch those broadcasts. I would not stay in an RV. Trying to hook up and decide where to go would be an exercise in futility. If at home we decide if we should move to an interior room away from outside walls. If in the Monte we decide if we need to go to a shelter (which we have already scouted as our best option upon arrival at the RV park or campground.

[grayghost03]

We are at Lake Lavon COE (Wylie, Texas), There was a lot of damage in the park. Hail as big as softballs, will do that. Motorhomes to the worsed of it. We were lucky, we parked East of 3 very large trees, over hanging most of the rig. Small crack on AC cover, and that's it. I think we were the only one, that did loose skylights. Some lost all, including roofs. Truck was in Plano, no damage. Alittle scarey returning to this type of destruction.

[grayghost03]

Insurance adjusters are in the park from previous storm. The said this is the worse they have seen, 450,000 dwells and vehicles damaged. We went by RV storage lots yesterday, blue tarps everywhere. Unbelievable amount of damage.

[onekla]

Hate to hear of the damage. Insurance companies will probably start increasing our premiums.

[BB_TX]

Next round predicted for Saturday night thru Sunday. Be careful out there.

[grayghost03]

Bill, I think, I am going to stay right next to these big trees. :-)

[tweber502]

We are living in a park located just north of Little Elm, Tx (Shady Creek RV Park and Storage) on the north side of Dallas. I am in Springfield, Mo training with a new company and DW is in Kentucky visiting friends and family. Fortunately our park and rig suffered no damage from those storms! Bill thanks for the heads up for Saturday as I will be home by then. Hopefully we will dodge that one too!! We have had to seek shelter a couple of times and so far have only had to replace the rear AC shroud. I don't know about everything being bigger in Texas but the storms sure are doozies!! Tim

[BB_TX]

Tim - glad it missed you. There were areas from Bowie to Denton to Frisco to Wylie and continuing into east TX that got pounded. Looks like it passed just south of your place. Latest forecast is that the next system has slowed, will arrive late Sunday thru Monday, and more likely heavy rains rather than violent storms. We can only hope.

[tweber502]

Bill, fingers crossed it misses us and/or weakens! we were VERY lucky from what I hear, really bad hail less than a mile south of the park along HWY380. dodged a bullet there. Stay safe! Tim

[DQDick]

Glad you all had little or no damge! We always scout out a shelter wherever we go and at our RV home base in Kansas we have an in-ground one installed. Hope I never have to deal with that type of damage, however.

[padredw]

We are in Fredericksburg, Texas enjoying the bluebonnets. But we are watching the weather reports. In fact, we have decided to cut out trip short and move on back toward home (north of Longview, TX) because of the heavy rains and possible storms this weekend. We lost several days of paid campground reservations, but that may be the cost of safety Also no fun just staying in the trailer during days of heavy rain.

[JandC]

Glad to hear it missed you guys Bill, and other MOCers in the Texas area.

It is always a concern when either full time or even traveling across country in our fivers. I many places there are early warnings and tornado sirens almost everywhere. Then some states, including Florida, no sirens. Florida was one of the states that had several damaging tornadoes this winter. I guess Dick has the right idea. Scout out some type of shelter nearby where you are camped and be prepared to go there.

[BB_TX]

It was really interesting to watch the weather guys during that storm. They have a radar now that can detect hail within a large thunderstorm. The radar shows green (light rain), to yellow (heavier rain), to red (heavy rain), to pink (small hail), to white (large hail). And they can click on points in the pink and white and it will estimate the hail size. As the storm was moving across north TX the radar white hail core was pulsing going from a large core to a smaller core and back to large again, never going away. And as the weather guy was clicking on the radar within the core, it was showing hail from 2.5" to 4" dia. Pretty accurate as that was what was actually observed on the ground.

One report estimated that pea size hail can fall at 20 mph, and baseball size hail at 100 mph. Didn't say about softball size.

That is in addition to the other (doppler) radar that shows rotating winds within a storm indicating a possible tornado. They are getting better and better on giving out warnings of impending dangers with enough time to prepare, at least within an hour or so of it hitting.