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COURTESY NOAA
A 41?4-inch hailstone that fell on the morning of March 9 in Kailua’s Aikahi neighborhood has been recognized as the largest hailstone to fall in Hawaii.
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Bizarre weather? Hail, yes!
The National Weather Service said Thursday it has confirmed that among the hail that fell in Windward Oahu on March 9, one frozen chunk set a state record at 41⁄4 inches.
The record hail was collected by a resident in Kailua’s Aikahi neighborhood. The weather service measured it as 4 1/4 inches long, 2 inches wide and 2 1/4 inches tall. (A golf ball is on average 1.68 inches in diameter.)
The weather service said the previous record for hail size in Hawaii was 1 inch in diameter, according to hail report records that go back to 1950.
Hail fell in the early morning hours of March 9 in Kailua and Kaneohe. The hail was generated by a "supercell" thunderstorm that was stationary over the area, the weather service said.
The weather service received numerous reports of hail of 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
The hail fell on the same morning a tornado buzzed through the Lanikai and Enchanted Lake neighborhoods of Kailua from 7:15 to 7:30 a.m. The twister damaged roofs, uprooted plants and knocked down fences. The weather service said it had speeds of 60 to 70 mph and an average width of 20 yards.
It capped a week of intense rainstorms that caused flooding and landslides on Kauai and Oahu.