Another Look At Most Insane Hail I've Ever Heard Of, In Nebraska

There's a storm chaser with an outfit called Extreme Instability, with a base in Blair, Nebraska.

From Extreme Instability: The storm blasts through
Nebraska on June 3.  

On June 3, forecasts indicated a pretty nasty tornado outbreak in the southern half of Nebraska and into Iowa and Kansas. The guy with Extreme Instability (hard to find his name in the web site) decided to go after them.

Meanwhile, a supercell thunderstorm got going in southwestern South Dakota and moved southeastward into northern Nebraska.

Though that storm was heading toward his hometown, he decided not to chase it. It was north of a warm front, not the right location for the storm to drop a tornado.

The supercell was impressive looking on radar, but not enough to really get into.

He jogged north to take some photographs of it, then went off for his tornadoes.

From Extreme Instability: Hail damage in Nebraska
after the June 3 storm.  (Click on image to really
see the damage) 

But the storm got so intense, that outflow from it, interacting with the warm front, reduced the amount of tornadoes that could get going.

That supercell that had originated in South Dakota got incredibly intense, and produced one of the most spectacular, destructive hailstorms this nation has seen.

And it slammed Extreme Instability's hometown of Blair. Within this supercell, hail the size of baseballs and larger were propelled by winds of 70 to as much as 100 mph.

Picture a horde of several hundred Major League Baseball players throwing pitches at your house and that's essentially what was going on.

This storm had to be big. I happened to be in Yankton, South Dakota, just across the Missouri River from Nebraska when this monster storm passed by. At its closest approach, the core of the storm was about 60 miles away from me.  

Ruined vehicles at a Nebraska car dealership after
baseball sized hail and winds of 70 mph. Photo
from Extreme Instability. 

Even so, the storm was such a monster its anvil top came overhead. It got remarkably dark for mid-afternoon, and there was this deep, rumbling thunder that keep rolling and rolling.

This storm even managed to throw a few small hailstones all the way up to Yankton.

I could tell this was a beast, and glad it wasn't hitting my relatives' house in Yankton.

But it did hit Extreme Instability's hometown. And the photos he took are a testament to the power of this incredible hail and wind.

It must have been terrifying to be in it.