Weather: ‘Gorilla hail,’ larger than a golf ball, falls in parts of US during rain storm and tornado warning

Large pieces of hail It fell on parts of Kansas and Missouri Wednesday night, paralyzing traffic along Interstate 70 and unleashing a possible tornado, as forecasters urged residents to stay home.

At least one unconfirmed tornado was reported in Alta Vista, Kansas on Wednesday, according to media reports. The National Weather Service predicted quarter-hour hail and wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. throughout northern Kansas overnight until 6 a.m. Thursday.

Descriptions of the hail varied from the size of golf balls and apples to softballs and baseball.

AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski previously said the expected hail was factored in “gorilla hail” because it had the potential to be very large.

“Gorilla Hail” is a term coined by Reed Timmera storm chaser who calls himself an extreme meteorologist, Sosnowski said.

In this case, the term might fit: There could be some hail from north-central Kansas to north-central Missouri as big as a baseball.

“When you get close to (salute) the size of a tennis ball, the size of a baseball or, God forbid, the size of a softballwhich can cause enormous damageand if they hit you on the head, it could be fatalSosnowski said.

Traffic was paralyzed for a time on a portion of Interstate 70 due to hail, the National Weather Service reported on X. Images of large chunks of hail and at least one broken windshield were shown on KSHB-TV.

Wednesday evening, meteorologists tornado warnings issued in areas around Topeka and to the north, while severe thunderstorm warnings were issued northeast of Kansas City, Missouri.

“If you are under this warning, stay away from windows and take shelter inside now!!!” the National Weather Service posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The weather service said the storm had previously produced “baseball-sized hail” or 3.5-inch chunks.

The weather service also issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas through Thursday morning, after which forecasters said The storm will move eastward.

While the threat of hail diminishes Thursday, meteorologists say it’s still possible heavy rain and strong winds from northeast Texas to central Missouri.

The biggest threat for Friday It’s torrential rain, perhaps as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) in some places, in a line from central Louisiana to central Arkansas, Sosnowski said.