Hail, Audubon
- When
- May 17, 8:12 PM CST
- Where
- Audubon County, 2 mi SW of Audubon
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Coordinates
- 41.700, -94.970
Hail in Iowa, May 17, 1996
Very warm and humid air moved north into Iowa ahead of a weak cold front. Temperatures rose into the middle 80s to middle 90s ahead of the front with dew point temperatures in the 60s to lower 70s.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS DMX wrote it up.
Very warm and humid air moved north into Iowa ahead of a weak cold front. Temperatures rose into the middle 80s to middle 90s ahead of the front with dew point temperatures in the 60s to lower 70s. Lifted indices were as low as -10 degrees C and CAPE values were near 4000 J/kg. Thunderstorms erupted during the late afternoon hours over western Iowa and moved rapidly northeast at nearly 45 MPH. The main severe weather feature with the storms was large hail. WSR-88D VIL values reached 85 kg/m/m with the stronger storms. There were numerous reports of golf ball size hail in spite of the freezing level being over 14,500 feet MSL. The largest hail report was in Floyd County at Charles City with a report of baseball size hail. Golf ball size hail smashed the windshield out of a police squad car in Franklin County at Hampton. The hail caused damage to cars and roofs in the affected areas as well.
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:10 UTC.
Event by event
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Minnesota, May 17, 1996
- Flash Flood in Indiana, May 17, 1996
- Heat in Missouri, May 17 to 20, 1996
- Flash Flood in Ohio, May 17, 1996
- Flood in Ohio, May 17, 1996
- Hail in Iowa, May 17, 1996
- Tornado in North Dakota, May 17, 1996
- Hail in Nebraska, May 17, 1996
- Tornado in Minnesota, May 17, 1996
- Tornado in Idaho, May 17, 1996
- Tornado in Idaho, May 17, 1996
- Flash Flood in North Dakota, May 17, 1996
More
Every storm in Iowa in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, May 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5544271.