Record hail stone the size of a pineapple found in Texas

Storm trackers in the Texas Panhandle have recovered a massive hail stone that's about the size of a pineapple

Monster Hail Stone Texas

Storm trackers in the Texas Panhandle recovered a massive hail stone that researchers say is likely to be a new state record.

Val and Amy Castor, veteran storm chasers with Oklahoma City television station KWTV, discovered a piece of hail more than 7 inches (17.78 centimeters) long Sunday along the side of the road near Vigo Park while they were chasing a major thunderstorm system.

Val Castor said the stone was about the size of a pineapple.

“That's the biggest hail I've ever seen, and I've been chasing storms for more than 30 years,” Castor said.

The National Weather Service in Lubbock, Texas, said they believe the stone, which measured more than 7 inches long, is a new state record

Castor said several baseball-sized hail stones fell while he was driving, including one that cracked his windshield, before he spotted the big piece in a ditch on the side of the road.

“I could see it from probably 100 yards away,” he said.

The massive hail stone is believed to be a new state record, topping a 6.4-inch (16.25-centimeter) hail stone found in Hondo in 2021. It still must be confirmed by a group of researchers that includes the Texas state climatologist, said Jordan Salem, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Lubbock.

The heaviest hail stone on record in the United States had a reported diameter of 11 inches (27.94 centimeters) and weighed nearly 2 pounds (907 grams). It was discovered near Vivian, South Dakota, in July 2010, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.