How Texas-Sized “Hail From Hell” Forms!

Hail can be one of the most destructive natural phenomena and the number and

intensity of hail storms have been increasing as average global temperatures rise,

causing increasing property damage and insurance claims. Hail can cause serious

property damage and can be dangerous to people, sometimes reaching grapefruit

size. A corridor reaching down the central United States that includes states like

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and

Texas experiences more and larger hail. Top cities for hail damage include Dallas and

McKinney, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; and Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado.

In a March 2023 post, State Farm reported that it had seen a one-billion-dollar increase in

hail claims from 2021 to 2022, and given what I have seen about how low State Farm’s

estimates can be, I wouldn’t be surprised if the actual damage incurred by State Farm

policyholders was much higher!

This weekend’s Houston Chronicle contains an excellent article, complete with

illustrations about hail form, including Texas-sized hail. In severe thunderstorms, warm

updraughts of air combine with cold downdraughts to create a rotating current of air

within storm clouds. The warm air lifts the moisture up and when it reaches the freezing

level, the level in the air where the temperature reaches freezing, it freezes, then it falls

back down to earth. A hailstone may repeat this process multiple times. The lower the freeze level is, the larger the potential hailstone because the stone

has less time to thaw as it plummets towards Earth.

If you have a hail damage insurance claim, we may be able to help you. We are

licensed in Alabama, Texas, and Washington State and can work with lawyers in other

states, too. Unlike most firms, we focus on representing policyholders against insurance

companies. We will not represent an insurance company against a policyholder and

never have. Contact us now.