It’s official, the largest hail stones in Colorado history fell Sunday in the eastern plains. Photos were floating around the internet this week featuring impossibly large hailstone the size of grapefruits and softballs but The State Climate Extremes Committee with the Colorado Climate Center in Fort Collins made the final determination on the hail size.
Update: along with @NWSGoodland, today we measured the hailstone that fell NW of Bethune, CO on Tuesday, 13 August. The maximum diameter was 4.83", which exceeds the long-standing state record of 4.5". (1/2) #cowx
— ColoClimateCenter (@ColoradoClimate) August 14, 2019
The new record is 4.83 inches set on August 13th 2019 NW of Bethune, CO. For reference an actual softball has a diameter of 3.8 inches. Gnarly:
We also received this picture as a facebook comment on one of our facebook posts of hail from Bethune. We've asked them to save the hail stone by freezing it but haven't heard a response yet. pic.twitter.com/6BmiEXIyVz
— NWS Goodland (@NWSGoodland) August 13, 2019