© Matthew Waters
A hailstone four inches across that fell near Waco, Tex., on Wednesday.
Hail season is in full force across the Lower 48, and it's no surprise that multiple massive hailstorms have rolled through Texas this week, tossing missiles of ice bigger than softballs out of the sky. What is surprising, however, is where else the enormous hail has been reported — Florida — with several days of back-to-back rotating thunderstorms dropping tennis ball-sized hail and causing damage.
More hail is expected in the days ahead, particularly on Friday, when a level 3 out of 5 enhanced risk of severe weather has been drawn by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center for parts of Texas.
April into May marks the climatological peak for severe weather, including tornadoes, in the Lower 48. After a record-active start to the year that's already been responsible for 63 fatalities, there has been a pause for the past week or two. Signs point to that lingering until the second week of May, when dangerous storms could make a swift return.
Comment: Another strike killed two people on April 27th in Bangladesh.