October 11, 2019

By Jean Lotus

Baseball-size hailstones destroyed car windows in June 2018 near Colorado Springs.

Denver -- As hail season ends (click here)  in the "hail alley" states east of the Rocky Mountains, weather scientists say these destructive storms appear to be increasing, causing greater property and crop damage and injuring more people and animals.

In 2019, extra-large hailstones measuring 3 inches or more in circumference fell during storms in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas this spring and summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported. A total of 176 episodes of severe hail were reported in those states, plus South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

In August, a severe storm with baseball-size hail and 70-mph winds killed between 11,000 and 13,000 waterfowl at a Montana marshland in Yellowstone County. Dead and injured pelicans, cormorants, geese and ducks were scattered around the Big Lake Wildlife Management Area north of Billings, according to state park officials.

"We walked up and saw dead birds strewn across the shoreline and injured birds with broken wings," said Justin Paugh, wildlife biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks....

To the right - Patterns of hail-hit areas are now being captured with drone footage, as in this image taken near Wellington, Colo.