Hail, Palo Alto
- When
- July 19, 8:10 PM CST
- Where
- Palo Alto County, Emmetsburg
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Crop damage
- $5,000
- Coordinates
- 43.120, -94.700
Hail in Iowa, July 19, 1997
A frontal boundary remained nearly stationary east to west remained in place across southern Minnesota. The airmass was very unstable over Iowa, however wind fields were quite weak and freezing levels were above 14,000 feet.
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
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- $5,000
- 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.
A frontal boundary remained nearly stationary east to west remained in place across southern Minnesota. The airmass was very unstable over Iowa, however wind fields were quite weak and freezing levels were above 14,000 feet. One thunderstorm produced three quarter inch diameter hail as it moved through the Five Island Lake area near Emmetsburg.
The radar
The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 172 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
- Heat in Texas, July 19 to 30, 1997
- Flash Flooding in Oklahoma, July 19, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, July 19, 1997
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Minnesota, July 19, 1997
- Wildfire in New Jersey, July 19 to 20, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, July 19, 1997
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Illinois, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Iowa, July 19, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in South Dakota, July 19, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Colorado, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Winds in North Carolina, July 19, 1997
More
Every storm in Iowa in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, July 1997
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: 5603024.