Weekend Weather Wows: Dallas ties record for gross humidity levels
Ever walked outside, felt the blast of heat and humidity and simply thought: "Nope!" and walked back in? That was likely the scene across Dallas this week as the dew point reached ultimate levels of atmospheric sweat.
Thursday marked 4 consecutive days with at least 5-inch hail stones reported
It's been a week of large hail with Thursday marking four consecutive days with at least 5-inch hailstone reports in the U.S., and five consecutive days with at least 4-inch hail reports.
DALLAS — Ever walked outside, felt the blast of heat and humidity and simply thought: "Nuh uh!" and walked back in? Welcome to Texas this week.
It's time for our weekly feature, "Weekend Weather Wows," where we'll go back and find the most exciting tidbits of weather you might have missed over the past week, so you'll be ready to impress at the water cooler (or virtual water cooler) come Monday.
Dallas finds itself in the ultimate sticky situation
Sultry heat and brutal humidity are a way of life in Texas in the summer, so when Dallas ties a record for their highest dew point, you know it instantly becomes a contender for the grossest weather day of the year. Or decade. Or … ever.
The temperature at Dallas-Fort Worth's DFW Airport on Thursday morning was 90 degrees with a wilting 80-degree dew point, which should have an entry on the chart below as just: "Nope."
(FOX Weather)
It was so bad the FAA was considering changing their airport code to DEW instead. (Sorry, Deer Park, Washington.)
EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNINGS CONTINUE IN TEXAS, LOUISIANA AS STIFLING WEATHER DRAGS ON
The 80-degree dew point tied a level reached a few times before, but the records are tough to read from which years because they’re smeared in atmospheric sweat.
Many from the South or Plains will frequently say it’s "90 degrees with 90% humidity," but that’s a misnomer. It might seem like 90% humidity when you walk outside and it feels like you’ve just been instantly wrapped in a hot, damp towel that was sitting in a clump on the bathroom floor for days.
But usually, the actual humidity is around 40-50%. Since warmer air can hold more moisture, it just feels more wet and miserable than a day that’s 60 degrees with 40-50% humidity.
DEW POINT VS. HUMIDITY: WHICH ONE IS A BETTER MEASURE OF HOW MUGGY THE AIR FEELS?
However on this day, the saying wasn’t too far off. 90 degrees with an 80 degree dew point registers to a 73% humidity. That made it feel like it was 108 degrees outside. Maybe that airport code should be D-EWW.
Don’t worry, it wasn’t the worst place in Texas. McAllen had a temperature of 102 with a dew point at 79 for a "feels like" temperature of 123.
In the heat of the night
Hearne, Texas, on Friday saw the temperature rise from 86 to 103. Typical summer. Except it occurred in 40 minutes, hours after sunset!
Georgetown, Texas, went from 82 to 99 after 1 a.m. after a heat burst. That's when a thunderstorm dies and the collapsing storm sends a downdraft that heats and dries out as it sinks.
In Hearne, not only did the temperature climb 17 degrees, but the dew point fell 30 degrees.
At least it's a dry heat!
This Tornado Warning is for the birds
A Tornado Warning issued in Colorado for an area where the computer calculated 0 people lived.
(NOAA)
Because according to the map, no one lived there….
It is a bit of a sport for meteorologists to monitor the @NWSTornado feed to see if the warning boxes snag an area where the map database says zero people live, or sometimes even just one person.
Blockbuster hail reports across the Plains and South
DVDs may be fading from relevance in the age of streaming, but they were thrust back into the spotlight as massive chunks of ice fell from the skies across the South and Plains this week.
First came hail storms on Monday that saw stones measured at 5 inches in diameter in Texas - officially on the National Weather Service hail measurement chart as "DVD-size" hail.
Watch: Hail startles photographer as baseball-sized stones pelt backyard pool near Dallas
A large hail storm struck the Dallas suburb of Lantana, Texas, Sunday evening, with baseball-sized stones smashing into one family's backyard patio and pool. (Video: Christine Cashen via Storyful)
Then more 5-inch hail reports came in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday across the South.
Hail was estimated at 5.5 inches in diameter in Shamrock, Texas, on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
(Jana Houser / Facebook / FOX Weather)
It’s the first time in recorded NWS history that there have been four consecutive days with at least 5-inch hail stones reported in the U.S. Nature also incurred a $3.25 late fee for borrowing the DVD measurement longer than two days.
HOW LARGE IS ‘GOLF BALL’-SIZED HAIL, AND OTHER HAIL MEASUREMENTS
For good measure, last Sunday had a 4.25 inch hail report making this week the first five-day streak of 4 inch-plus hailstone reports.
NWS’s scale ends at 5 inches, but we’ve got a more modern day's submission for the 5.5 inch hailstone found on Lola, Texas on Tuesday: "iPhone-sized" hail.
Some other weather wow-y tidbits, hail edition:
- The multiple 5-inch hail reports in Mississippi this week may tie or even break the state record for largest hail stone if the measurements can be verified. The current record is 5 inches.
- The 4-inch hail stone found in Georgia was the first time such a large stone has been observed in June.
- The Tornado Watch issued for Oklahoma on Tuesday for the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma was only the second ever to forecast potentially 5-inch hail stones.
Be kind, rewind!
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