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Glass shards flew as Eric Gockel waited out one of the worst hailstorms to hit Missouri, an event that officials said brought severe spring weather problems to the South and Midwest and left widespread damage in the Springfield area.
Gockel said one of the softball-size chunks of ice measured 4.75 inches (12 centimeters) as it struck the region on Tuesday. He described his own car as being battered, with a windshield battered as he stayed in his vehicle along the highway for the storm to pass, and he later said he felt “blessed” to have come out unscathed. He said he has been submitting insurance claims since the hail hit, including damage he described to his house’s gutters and a route of repairs for his roof.
Emergency management officials also warned that the hail was large and growing during the storm. Nicolette Zangara of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management said she had a “bad feeling” early on, telling residents that radar showed the hail was increasing in size and that the agency began receiving pictures from neighboring counties. She said some people called 911 to report being injured when hail smashed their windshields, but she did not have exact numbers, and she said the worst of the damage appeared to be to vehicles.
The National Weather Service in Springfield compared the storm to past hail events in Missouri. Mark Burchfield, the agency’s meteorologist, said the storm was Springfield’s worst in history even though it fell short of the statewide record set in 2004 near Maryville, when hail measuring 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) was recorded. Burchfield said it was “very rare” and described the event as a supercell thunderstorm able to produce significant wind shear and energy that allowed hailstones to stay up aloft longer.
The hail reached beyond roads and homes, with harm reported to animals and damage reported at the airport. At the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, staff tried to move animals inside, including a 21-year-old female emu named Adam, but Joey Powell, the zoo spokesperson, said in an email that an emu’s natural behavior is to lie down and take cover. Powell said Adam died from head trauma, while Oscar, a 17-year-old rhea, was injured by the hail but was receiving pain medication and was doing well Wednesday morning as the zoo remained closed.
At the Springfield-Branson National Airport, damage and operational disruptions were also reported. The airport, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of downtown Springfield, saw dozens of flights delayed or canceled, and Ren Luebbering, the airport public information officer, said hundreds of vehicles had windshields or sunroofs busted out. Luebbering said some passengers had to be bused roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the airport in Bentonville, Arkansas, because rental cars were damaged, and airport staff spent about three hours covering the most badly damaged vehicles with donated tarps.
While assessing the broader context of repeated spring weather, Zangara said last week of April has been “kind of cursed” for the region and noted the area was hit hard a year earlier by spring storms. Gockel said he is used to storm warnings and typically responds by standing on the front porch and watching, rather than taking cover, but he said Tuesday was the first time he felt the event matched the warning as intensely as it did.