Texas, 1996

Hail in Texas, May 10, 1996

May 10, 1996 · NWS MAF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A left-split storm moved to the NNE from Glasscock County and produced one inch hail in the Elbow community. The storm reorganized with the storm-relative inflow favoring the north side of the storm.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
48
Property damage
$30 million
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 MAF wrote it up.

A left-split storm moved to the NNE from Glasscock County and produced one inch hail in the Elbow community. The storm reorganized with the storm-relative inflow favoring the north side of the storm. As the storm moved into the Big Spring area the it became a left-split supercell with the velocity display from the KMAF WSR-88D showing a well-developed anti-cyclonically rotating mesocyclone. The storm moved over the eastern half of the city from the south. In southern Big Spring baseball size hail fell while over the northeastern and eastern parts of the city softball size hail was reported. Graduation ceremony was ready to commence when softball hail struck Howard College. Skylights on the coliseum roof were shattered sending glass falling onto the floor that would have been filled with candidates just a few minutes later. The largest hail was reported at the intersection of I-20 and Business I-20 as the storm exited the city to the northeast. A Boy Scout caravan of 5 vehicles was pummelled by 5 inch diameter hail. The hail knocked out every window in every vehicle.Injuries from the storm included many cuts from broken glass and from direct strikes by jagged hailstones. One hailstone broke the side window of a car and continued with enough force to break a woman's arm inside the car. About 2000 residential roofs were replaced with many of these roofs less than a year old due to the April 3, 1995 hail storm. The Big Spring storm then moved northeast to the Vincent community where softball hail was once again reported.

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:44 UTC.

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Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Howard

When
May 10, 5:45 PM CST
Where
Howard County, 3 mi E of Big Spring
Measured
5 in hail
Injuries
48 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$30 million
Coordinates
32.250, -101.420

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

More

Every storm in Texas in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, 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: 5576664.