Hail in Iowa, May 13, 2001

Name: Hail in Iowa, May 13, 2001
Start: 2001-05-13T06:50
End: 2001-05-13T07:08
Location: Iowa

May 13, 2001 · NWS FSD · 3 events in 1 county or zone

3 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 13, 2:38 AM CST, 4 hours 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 13, 2:38 AM CST, 4 hours 12 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
338 AM CDT SUN MAY 13 2001

GOT SHORT TERM PRBLMS RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR HERE. PLENTY OF IN
CLOUD LTG WITH DVLPING TSTMS ALONG THE I 29 CORRIDOR...AND DOWN INTO
NW IA. IF WE HAD SOME DECENT MSTR BLO 700MB SOME OF THESE WOULD
LIKELY PRODUCE SOME BRIEF DOWNPOURS. BUT AS IT IS...MOST OF THIS
ACTIVITY IS TYPICAL MID LVL ACCAS TS...ASSOCIATED WITH STRONG WAA FM
925MB TO 700MB. MOST OF THE GOOD LLVL WAA IS PROGGED TO MOV MORE IN
A SE DIRECTION WITH THE FLOW INTO NW IA EARLY TDAY...SO IT IS A
TRICKY FCST ON HOW MUCH OF THIS ACTIVITY WL MAKE IT INTO SW MN.
AT ANY RATE...THIS CONVECTION SHOULD LEAVE BEFORE 9 AM ALLOWING FOR
M SUNNY OR P CLDY SKIES AND WARMER TEMPS. WINDS COULD GET A BIT
BREEZY THIS AFTN...AND MAY VEER A LITTLE MORE TO THE SOUTH AS SOME
OF THE 850MB WINDS MIX DOWN TO THE SFC...MAY KEEP MORE OF A SE
COMPONENT OVR THE NRN CWA.

STILL HAVE A RIDGE RIDER MAINLY MOVG N OF THE CWA TNGT. LOW POPS ARE
WARRANTED OVER THE NRN AND NE PTN OF THE CWA WITH THIS KIND OF LIFT
AND LLVL JET TNGT...ALTHOUGH THE MDLS HAVE IT DRY. BUT AS ONE CAN
SEE...THE MDL QPF DID A POOR JOB OF HANDLING THIS MID LVL CONVECTION
TNGT AS THEY SO OFTEN DO. BUT NO DOUBT...THE BEST JET DYNAMICS AND
STRONGEST LIFT TNGT ARE WL N OF THE FSD CWA.

WM TEMPS ARE THE MAIN STORY ON MONDAY...WITH A LLVL FRONTAL PASSAGE
MOVG THRU THE NW AND WRN PTNS OF THE CWA. COULD GET QUITE WM AND
BREEZY JUST AHD OF THIS BNDRY. AGAIN...DUE TO THE ORIENTATION OF THE
SW LLVL JET...MSTR IS LIMITED BLO 700MB...BUT ENUF LIFT EXISTS TO
WORRY ABOUT MID LVL CONVECTION...ESPECIALLY WITH THE STRONG LLVL
CONVERGENCE NR THE BNDRY. AS THIS BNDRY SAGS SWD INTO NW IA MONDAY
NIGHT...KEPT THE POPS GOING IN THIS AREA AS SOME TS COULD ERUPT
ALMOST AT ANY TIME DURING THE NIGHT. BACK TO MONDAY...TOOK OUT SOME
OF THE NR RECORD HIGH WORDING ON A COUPLE OF ZONES...ONLY BECAUSE
THE RECORD HIGHS ON MONDAY SPIKE UP MORE SO THAN THEY DO ON THE
SURROUNDING DAYS. SO DESPITE THE VERY WM AIR...NR RECORDS MAY BE
TOUGH ON THE 14TH. MESOS ARE HOLLARING AT US SO BETTER GO...NO TIME
TO LOOK AT THE EXTENDED.

.FSD...NONE
 FUHS

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Clay

When: May 13, 6:50 AM CST
Where: Clay County, 4 mi W of Spencer
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.150, -95.233

Hail, Clay

When: May 13, 6:50 AM CST
Where: Clay County, 3 mi N of Royal
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.117, -95.283

Hail, Clay

When: May 13, 7:08 AM CST
Where: Clay County, 2 mi S of Spencer
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.117, -95.150

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

Every storm in Iowa in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, May 2001

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: 5243629, 5243630, 5243631.