Baseball Sized Hail and Destructive Winds Cause Damage in Grinnell

On Sunday, severe storms swept across the Midwest, causing significant wind and hail damage in central Iowa. Strong winds drove tennis ball to baseball sized hailstones toward houses and structures, causing severe damage to siding and breaking windows on multiple homes in Grinnell. The storm’s powerful winds overturned trailers and other farm equipment and tossed them across a local road. Wind gusts during the storm were estimated to be between 70 to 80 mph.

Sunday’s severe weather reports made it the fifth-most-active day of 2023 so far. There were over 280 reports of large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes across a dozen states from the Plains to the Southeast.

This type of severe weather is not uncommon during the spring months in the Midwest. In fact, this is the time of year when the region sees the most severe thunderstorms. The storms are often caused by the clash of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cooler, drier air from the Rockies. When these air masses collide, they can create severe thunderstorms that produce hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes.

Story image credit: Jess Moore