National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

LARGE HAIL PUMMELS SOUTHERN 
MIDDLE TENNESSEE

MARCH 31, 2012

On the afternoon of March 31st, severe thunderstorms erupted over southern
parts of Middle Tennessee. Hail between baseball and softball size fell over
some areas, with many locations receiving golfball-size hail.

The hail came down in such quantity that it created an eerie ghostly ground 
fog that hung across the landscape following the storm's passage. In addition, 
due to the size and quanity of the hail, it took quite a bit of time to melt. Some
of the photos below were taken several hours after the hail had fallen and, as
you can tell, there was still quite a bit of ice left on the ground. 

We appreciate those who took the time to send along all these hail pictures so 
that we can share them with those visiting our website.  In this case, we
are especially grateful to Pat Woodmansee, with the Maury County Emergency
Management Agency, Trent Vandiver, of Mount Pleasant, and Ricky Dodson,
of Pulaski.

 
Southport Road, Mt. Pleasant, Maury Co., 03-31-12 
[Photo Credit: Trent Vandiver]




Car damage, Southport Road, Mt. Pleasant, Maury Co., 03-31-12
[Photo Credit: Trent Vandiver]





Southport Road, Mt. Pleasant, Maury Co., 03-31-12
[Photo Credit: Trent Vandiver]
Note: Golfball to Baseball size hail was reported in Maury County. In this photo,
the hail appears to be about golfball size.







Southport Road, Mt. Pleasant, Maury Co., 03-31-12
[Photo Credit: Trent Vandiver]




Southport Road, Mt. Pleasant, Maury Co., 03-31-12
[Photo Credit: Trent Vandiver]



The following photos were taken by Pat Woodmansee, in 
Maury County, about two hours after the storms had passed
--but, as you can see, still a lot of large hail on the ground!

The next photo of a 3-inch diameter hailstone was taken by 
Ricky Dodson, in Pulaski (Giles County) on 03-31-12




Here at the National Weather Service, we are always interested 
to get your hail reports. It helps us with our warning verification. 
We also send out hail size reports to the public, to alert people 
who are yet to experience the storm what size hail they might 
expect. 

Following is the the common hail-size references used by storm
spotters for the National Weather Service: