Well that’s one way to describe how big a hailstone is...
A Mississippi man is thinking outside the box to send storm reports to his local National Weather Service office.
Justin McKee, Meteorologist
Man measures hail with McDonald's sauce packet (Jeffery Craig)
GLADE, Miss. – A line of severe storms moved through southern Mississippi early Wednesday morning, bringing large hail and strong winds. One storm moved through Jones County, dropping large hail near Jeffery Craig’s home in the Tuckers Crossing community. Craig did what any good weather spotter would do and grabbed a few hailstones to measure. He had a few quarters handy, but needed something bigger to measure the largest hailstone.
Storm Reports (3/4/2020) (WSLS)
Recommended Videos
Yes, he used a McDonald’s sauce packet! No word from Craig why he chose Sweet 'n Sour over Ranch or Honey Mustard. Since this is not a standard measurement for hail, the National Weather Service office in Jackson needed a little more information.
Jeffery, by chance could you measure the length of that sauce packet? We're estimating around 2.25 to 2.5 inches, but would like to verify. Thanks!
Jeffery responded that the sauce packet measured 2.375 inches, so the NWS meteorologists concluded that the hailstone was close to tennis-ball sized, about 2.5 inches. While this is a hilarious way to send in a storm report, we suggest you use the typical objects to measure hail size the next time we see any in southwest Virginia.
