Severe Weather Awareness Week: Wind & Hail

We continue  Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa and today the Weather Service is highlighting Wind & Hail . Our area has seen its fair share of wind and hail. The National Weather Service office in the Quad Cities watches wind and hail closely. The reason why is so they know whether to  issue a severe thunderstorm warning or not. The criteria for a severe thunderstorm warning is 58 MPH Winds and hail up to 1 inch which is about the size of a quarter. 

Some notable events in our area include the 2002 Maquoketa Hail Storm. According to the NWS Quad Cities, on September 18, 2002 a very high precipitation thunderstorm was moving into Jackson County. This thunderstorm had a history of producing baseball sized hail and damaging winds of 70-80 MPH.  The City of Maquoketa was the hardest hit by this storm. Most of the residents reported property damage. Nearly 1,000 new and used cars from dealerships suffered hail damage. They described it as the car having chicken pox. Pea and golf ball sized hail was so frequent, and lasting 20 minutes, it left a sheet of ice in the bed of a pickup truck. The City of Maquoketa had $20 Million in damages from the storm. 

The other notable event was the August 10th, 2020 derecho. The storm produced over 80 MPH damaging wind gusts to our area. The city of Maquoketa had numerous trees down and even suffered a power outage like most of the other towns. It was a day that most people will never forget. 

Whether it’s a thunderstorm warning for 1 inch hail with 58 mph winds, or it’s a warning for baseball sized hail and 80 mph winds just seek shelter and be safe. Stay away from windows, and doors. Listen to KMAQ, and we will let you when thunderstorm watches or  warnings are issued  and when the threat has passed.