A thunderstorm over Yalboroo, Queensland in Australia on Monday, October 18th, 2021 dropped record-breaking hailstones on the area––one of which was 6.3″ (14cm) wide, larger than a softball.
The hailstone has been confirmed by Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology as the largest ever recorded in Australia.
Yesterday’s 16cm hail in Yalboroo, Queensland is a new Australian record. The previous record was 14cm, observed in south-east Qld last year. The atmosphere was extremely unstable, which allowed hail to continue growing before gravity forced it to the ground.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) October 19, 2021
The 6.3″ skull crusher was significantly bigger than the previous record––set in 2020––that was 5.5″ (14cm) wide.
The largest hailstone ever known to have fallen in the US was 8″ (20.3cm) wide and weighed 1.94lbs. It fell in Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010, according to AccuWeather.
A storm occurring near Moradabad, India, on April 30, 1888, is said to have killed as many as 246 people with hailstones as large as ‘goose eggs and oranges’ and cricket balls, according to the WMO.
