Hail in North Carolina, May 24, 1996

Two areas of severe thunderstorms developed in the western half of North Carolina during the afternoon. A small cluster of storms developed in the moutains and drifted south causing primarily hail damage. In Jackson county hail damage was widespread denting cars and damaging roofs. The most widespread hail damage, however covered the foothills and piedmont from Lenior to Hickory to Charlotte and Mathews. Multiple severe storms caused extensive damage especially around Hickory, Newton and Maiden. Hail of golf ball size or larger covered the ground in many places causing damage to cars and roofs. Almost every new and used car dealership in Catawba county reported severe damage. One dealership alone reported $4 million damage. Similar damage was reported around the Charlotte area although it was not as widespread and did not persist so long. The hail was accompanied by severe downburst winds in just a few spots; especially into the evening. A utility building was destroyed by the wind at Vale. The other wind damage reports were of trees and power lines downed. It is not possible to separate the hail damage by event so the final event in each county is an estimate of damage based on clippings and other anecdotal evidence. During the evening the storms gained multicell characteristics developing new storms repeatedly on their western flanks. These storms caused more and more damaging wind. Fallston and Shelby were hard hit as these storms built into South Carolina from the northeast.