Severe Weather Awareness Week: 'I opened the door, I said what the hail!'

Posted at 6:13 PM, Mar 18, 2024
and last updated 2024-03-18 18:46:15-04

HOWELL, Mich. (WXYZ) — It is Severe Weather Awareness Week. We are taking a look at a different weather threat - and answering questions as part of our series - Severe Weather Explained.

"I opened the door, I said what the hail,” said Kim Stricker after his neighborhood was hit hard with hail.

It’s loud!

"I kept thinking, the second coming it was that freaky, " said another viewer hit by severe storms.

It can be destructive!

"The hail, basically, annihilated everything!”

Even dangerous!

"You can see how big that hail ball had to be,” said another neighbor.

Large-sized hail - like what fell over parts of Southeast Michigan last summer

In Howell, lawns were covered in golf ball-sized hail.

For some farms in Livingston County - the aftermath was devastating.

“You see all the holes in the plastic? That’s 5000 pepper plants completely destroyed,” said a farmer we talked to after crops were destroyed.

At the Hank Graff Chevrolet dealership in Davison, baseball-sized hail damaged just about every car on the lot.

"Look at that - that's a very strong part of the hood," the Chris Graff, owner of Hank Graff Chevrolet dealership.

Our question about hail comes from a sophomore at Loyola High School - on Detroit's west side.

“Hi, my name is Angelo Means and I attend Loyola High School and I'm currently in 10th grade. My question today is, ‘What is necessary for hail to form in thunderstorms?’”