
Ping, ping ping. Here's what it's like to drive into a big hailstorm in the name of science
By SETH BORENSTEIN, BRITTANY PETERSON and CAROLYN KASTER
Wind roared against the SUV's windows as its tires sloshed through water dumped onto the road by the downpour. A horizon-wide funnel cloud loomed out the window, several miles away. Then came the loud metallic pings on the roof. First one, then another. Then it was too fast to count and too loud to hear much of anything else.
Hailstones were pelting down, and the car was driving toward them.
'How big are they?' meteorology professor Kelly Lombardo asked from the passenger seat.
'Probably no more than a nickel or dime, but they're just flowing at 50 mph,' said fellow researcher Matthew Kumjian as he steered through the flooded road.
Lombardo and Kumjian are part of a team of about 60 researchers chasing hail across the Great Plains to better forecast an underappreciated hazard that causes about $10 billion a year in damage in the U.S. The researchers brought along three Associated Press journalists to observe the first-of-its kind project called ICECHIP, including trips into the heart of the storms in fortified vehicles like the one driven by Kumjian.
The payoff is data that could improve hail forecasts. Knowing what's going on inside a storm is crucial to knowing what's going to happen to people in its path, meteorologists said.
'We have a really tough time forecasting hail size,' said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini, one of the project leaders. 'All scientific experiments start with data gathering, and without that data we don't know what we're missing. And so that's what this project is all about.'
On this afternoon, Lombardo and Kumjian, Penn State University professors who are married to each other, were negotiating rapid weather changes while collecting their data.
Minutes before the hail started, the couple were launching three-foot wide weather balloons designed to give scientists a glimpse of what's happening in the leading edge of the storm. A tornado in the distance was slowly getting closer.
Soon cell phones blared tornado alarms, and a nearby town's storm sirens roared to life. The couple jumped in the car and drove into a part of the storm where they could collect hail after it fell, the same stretch of flooded road where they encountered the 50 mph winds. A wind-meter protruding from the black SUV's front captured data that was displayed on Lombardo's laptop.
'This is up there in terms of severity of winds and intensity of precipitation,' Kumjian told an AP reporter after finding a safe place to pull over.
Elsewhere in the storm, Joshua Soderholm of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology launched weather balloons carrying devices built to mimic golf ball-sized hail and outfitted with microphones and special sensors. One flew up 8.9 miles at 163 mph.
'It's free floating. It does whatever the storm wants it to do,' Soderholm said. 'This is the only way you could actually get a measurement of what a hail storm might be doing.''
Researchers also deploy special funnels that capture pristine hail, crushers that measure how strong the ice balls are and other high-tech machinery, including radar and drones.
The teams also use a variety of gear and practices to stay coordinated and safe. At morning briefings, they review forecasts to plan the safest way to reach the storms producing the most hail. At their destination, teams set up at varying distances to the storms, with three fortified vehicles driving into the heart of the weather. Each vehicle has radar screens in the front seats showing brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of the storm they chase.
Gensini is in a command vehicle that tracks and deploys the teams based on weather in real time. At times he has to rein in some enthusiastic chasers. So Northern Illinois meteorology student Katie Wargowsky radios a team deep inside a storm to find safety. Twice.
The 21-year-old Wargowsky described how becoming a storm chaser began as an effort to overcome weather anxiety so intense she would dry heave while taking shelter in her family's basement. But confronting her fear helped her develop a deep curiosity that led her to chase tornadoes with her father.
'You get a rush of adrenaline,' she said. 'You really start to notice the little things around you, and your head just feels kind of light. Your natural survival instincts tell you, you need to take shelter, and you need hide from it. But you just know that it's about to be some good research, and you are changing the world one storm at a time.'
The three fortified vehicles are equipped with special metal mesh to protect their windshields. But it's not foolproof. The SUV driven by the Penn State researchers lost its windshield in May to sideways-blowing hail that flew under the mesh just 15 minutes into their first storm chase.
Another one of the fortified vehicles, called the Husky Hail Hunter, was pelted by three-and-half-inch hail during a trip into a storm with an AP photographer aboard.
'We're getting some new dents,' said Tony Illenden, the Northern Illinois student at the wheel. 'This is insane.'
When he stepped out to collect a hailstone — wearing a helmet to protect his head — one slammed into his right hand, causing it to swell in what Gensini called the first hail injury of the season. A few days later Illenden, said his hand felt fine.
For the storm chasers, the payoff isn't just the data. It's also the natural beauty. Illenden's team, for example, collected a three-inch (81 millimeter) hailstone that looked like a rose. That same night a double rainbow emerged.
After the storm passed, several vans descended on a Walmart parking lot to crush hailstones with special machines that measured how much force was needed to shatter them.
'In hailstones we have layers. So we start off with an embryo, and then you've got different growth layers,' said Central Michigan University scientist John Allen.
Since May 18, while logging more than 5,700 miles, the team has collected, measured, crushed, weighed and sliced hailstones as big as 5.5 inches, about the size of a DVD.
The study funded in part by $11 million from the National Science Foundation, which took eight years to plan, is already paying off even before researchers have had a chance to thoroughly review the data, scientists said. Gensini said one early data trend he's noticing is that 'the largest hail that we found is not where we thought it would be in terms of the Doppler radar.″ And that's an issue because Doppler radar is the only tool forecasters have been using across the country to say where the big dangerous stones should be falling, he said.
Given the federal cuts to science, particularly related to the climate, Gensini said this is likely the first and last time a hail project like this can be done, at least for several years.
Scientists from the insurance industry, which is helping fund the study, are testing new types of roof shingles that so far seem to resist hail better, said Ian Giammanco, a meteorologist at the Insurance Institute For Business and Home Safety.
"One of our goals is to replicate all of this back at our lab so we can really understand how durable our roofing materials are to all the different flavors of hail,' he said.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The Mainichi
01-07-2025
- The Mainichi
Wimbledon is hit by record-breaking Day 1 temperatures as the tournament gets started
LONDON (AP) -- Wimbledon players and spectators were hit by record-breaking Day 1 heat as the temperature rose to 91 degrees Fahrenheit -- 33 Celsius -- at the oldest Grand Slam tournament on Monday. "For sure, you feel like the sun is getting closer and closer every minute that passes by," said Adrian Mannarino, a 37-year-old Frenchman who frequently sprayed his shaved head with sunscreen at changeovers during his first-round victory. "I was struggling a little more than usual." The 2001 fortnight had the previous hottest opening day at the All England Club, reaching 85 degrees F (29.3 degrees C). "I feel like everyone is kind of struggling with the heat right now," Germany's Eva Lys said after winning her match Monday. Some sweat-soaked athletes sought help from ice-filled towels wrapped around their necks while they sat on sideline chairs. Others said it actually wasn't all that unbearable, especially given that the weather was not extraordinary compared to what often occurs during the local summers when the Australian Open is held in Melbourne in January or the U.S. Open is in New York in August and September. At those events, temperatures regularly get to 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) and can top 100 degrees F (38 degrees C). A 2023 Associated Press analysis showed the average high temperatures felt during the U.S. Open and the three other major tennis tournaments steadily have gotten higher and more dangerous in recent decades, reflecting the climate change that has created record heat waves. For the players, it can inhibit them from playing their best and, worse, increase the likelihood of heat-related illness. By local standards, this certainly was significant. "I'm not going to lie, it was pretty hot. I think (it was) a bit of a rookie mistake, not doing a change of clothes at the end of the set," said Sonay Kartal, a British player who eliminated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. "It was hot, but I had ice towels, cold drinks and stuff. I wouldn't say it affected me too much." The average daytime temperature in London in June is 71 degrees F (21.5 degrees C). The government's official weather office said this spring was Britain's "warmest and sunniest" since that's been tracked. "I'll spend the whole day going from one shady spot to another," said Sally Bolton, the chief executive officer of the All England Club. "Obviously, it's a very warm day. The first obvious point to make is that the athletes compete in temperatures like this all year on the tour," Bolton said. "For us Brits here at The Championships, it feels very hot." Wimbledon, like other tennis tournaments, monitors air temperature, surface temperature and humidity for a heat-stress reading that, if it exceeds 30.1 degrees C (about 86 degrees F), allows for 10-minute breaks between the second and third sets of women's matches or between the third and fourth sets of men's matches. Among other precautions being taken Monday, Bolton said, were having more ice on court available for players to use to cool off, rotating ball girls and boys more frequently "if we feel we need to," and giving regular breaks to workers around the grounds. As for fans, Bolton said, "we're offering the same advice as lots of the medical professionals: Come prepared. Bring a hat. Wear sunscreen. Wear light clothing if you can. Take breaks out of the sun. We've got over 100 water points around the grounds, so definitely stay hydrated. And keep an eye on your friends and others around you. If people look like they're suffering a little bit from heat stress, we've got a really significantly sized medical team here." Fans used umbrellas to offer shade, rather than protection from the drizzles often seen around these parts. A year ago, because of persistent showers, it took four days -- instead of the scheduled two -- to complete the first round. Thinking back to the rain-filled Wimbledon of 2024, Bolton joked: "We're not used to these sort of temperatures, but we're absolutely ready for it -- and actually delighted that it's sunny and not wet, like it was last year."


Japan Today
17-06-2025
- Japan Today
Ping, ping ping. Here's what it's like to drive into a big hailstorm in the name of science
Tony Illenden crouches in a helmet and gloves outside Northern Illinois University's Husky Hail Hunter vehicle to scoop hail into a bag during a storm while on a Project ICECHIP operation in Levelland, Texas. By SETH BORENSTEIN, BRITTANY PETERSON and CAROLYN KASTER Wind roared against the SUV's windows as its tires sloshed through water dumped onto the road by the downpour. A horizon-wide funnel cloud loomed out the window, several miles away. Then came the loud metallic pings on the roof. First one, then another. Then it was too fast to count and too loud to hear much of anything else. Hailstones were pelting down, and the car was driving toward them. 'How big are they?' meteorology professor Kelly Lombardo asked from the passenger seat. 'Probably no more than a nickel or dime, but they're just flowing at 50 mph,' said fellow researcher Matthew Kumjian as he steered through the flooded road. Lombardo and Kumjian are part of a team of about 60 researchers chasing hail across the Great Plains to better forecast an underappreciated hazard that causes about $10 billion a year in damage in the U.S. The researchers brought along three Associated Press journalists to observe the first-of-its kind project called ICECHIP, including trips into the heart of the storms in fortified vehicles like the one driven by Kumjian. The payoff is data that could improve hail forecasts. Knowing what's going on inside a storm is crucial to knowing what's going to happen to people in its path, meteorologists said. 'We have a really tough time forecasting hail size,' said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini, one of the project leaders. 'All scientific experiments start with data gathering, and without that data we don't know what we're missing. And so that's what this project is all about.' On this afternoon, Lombardo and Kumjian, Penn State University professors who are married to each other, were negotiating rapid weather changes while collecting their data. Minutes before the hail started, the couple were launching three-foot wide weather balloons designed to give scientists a glimpse of what's happening in the leading edge of the storm. A tornado in the distance was slowly getting closer. Soon cell phones blared tornado alarms, and a nearby town's storm sirens roared to life. The couple jumped in the car and drove into a part of the storm where they could collect hail after it fell, the same stretch of flooded road where they encountered the 50 mph winds. A wind-meter protruding from the black SUV's front captured data that was displayed on Lombardo's laptop. 'This is up there in terms of severity of winds and intensity of precipitation,' Kumjian told an AP reporter after finding a safe place to pull over. Elsewhere in the storm, Joshua Soderholm of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology launched weather balloons carrying devices built to mimic golf ball-sized hail and outfitted with microphones and special sensors. One flew up 8.9 miles at 163 mph. 'It's free floating. It does whatever the storm wants it to do,' Soderholm said. 'This is the only way you could actually get a measurement of what a hail storm might be doing.'' Researchers also deploy special funnels that capture pristine hail, crushers that measure how strong the ice balls are and other high-tech machinery, including radar and drones. The teams also use a variety of gear and practices to stay coordinated and safe. At morning briefings, they review forecasts to plan the safest way to reach the storms producing the most hail. At their destination, teams set up at varying distances to the storms, with three fortified vehicles driving into the heart of the weather. Each vehicle has radar screens in the front seats showing brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of the storm they chase. Gensini is in a command vehicle that tracks and deploys the teams based on weather in real time. At times he has to rein in some enthusiastic chasers. So Northern Illinois meteorology student Katie Wargowsky radios a team deep inside a storm to find safety. Twice. The 21-year-old Wargowsky described how becoming a storm chaser began as an effort to overcome weather anxiety so intense she would dry heave while taking shelter in her family's basement. But confronting her fear helped her develop a deep curiosity that led her to chase tornadoes with her father. 'You get a rush of adrenaline,' she said. 'You really start to notice the little things around you, and your head just feels kind of light. Your natural survival instincts tell you, you need to take shelter, and you need hide from it. But you just know that it's about to be some good research, and you are changing the world one storm at a time.' The three fortified vehicles are equipped with special metal mesh to protect their windshields. But it's not foolproof. The SUV driven by the Penn State researchers lost its windshield in May to sideways-blowing hail that flew under the mesh just 15 minutes into their first storm chase. Another one of the fortified vehicles, called the Husky Hail Hunter, was pelted by three-and-half-inch hail during a trip into a storm with an AP photographer aboard. 'We're getting some new dents,' said Tony Illenden, the Northern Illinois student at the wheel. 'This is insane.' When he stepped out to collect a hailstone — wearing a helmet to protect his head — one slammed into his right hand, causing it to swell in what Gensini called the first hail injury of the season. A few days later Illenden, said his hand felt fine. For the storm chasers, the payoff isn't just the data. It's also the natural beauty. Illenden's team, for example, collected a three-inch (81 millimeter) hailstone that looked like a rose. That same night a double rainbow emerged. After the storm passed, several vans descended on a Walmart parking lot to crush hailstones with special machines that measured how much force was needed to shatter them. 'In hailstones we have layers. So we start off with an embryo, and then you've got different growth layers,' said Central Michigan University scientist John Allen. Since May 18, while logging more than 5,700 miles, the team has collected, measured, crushed, weighed and sliced hailstones as big as 5.5 inches, about the size of a DVD. The study funded in part by $11 million from the National Science Foundation, which took eight years to plan, is already paying off even before researchers have had a chance to thoroughly review the data, scientists said. Gensini said one early data trend he's noticing is that 'the largest hail that we found is not where we thought it would be in terms of the Doppler radar.″ And that's an issue because Doppler radar is the only tool forecasters have been using across the country to say where the big dangerous stones should be falling, he said. Given the federal cuts to science, particularly related to the climate, Gensini said this is likely the first and last time a hail project like this can be done, at least for several years. Scientists from the insurance industry, which is helping fund the study, are testing new types of roof shingles that so far seem to resist hail better, said Ian Giammanco, a meteorologist at the Insurance Institute For Business and Home Safety. "One of our goals is to replicate all of this back at our lab so we can really understand how durable our roofing materials are to all the different flavors of hail,' he said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.


Yomiuri Shimbun
13-06-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
At Least 78 Dead in South Africa Floods as Official Says Rescue Attempts Were ‘Paralyzed'
The Associated Press A relative reacts as bodies of her sister and three daughters were retrieved from inside a one room house, after floods swept through the area in Mthatha, South Africa, Thursday, June 12, 2025. At least 78 dead in South Africa floods as official says rescue attempts were 'paralyzed' By GERALD IMRAY and MICHELLE GUMEDE Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The death toll in floods in one of South Africa's poorest provinces rose to at least 78 on Thursday as a top official said rescue attempts in the first hours after the disaster had been 'paralyzed' by a lack of resources. Rescue teams spent a third day working through debris and floodwater to find missing people and retrieve bodies after heavy rain caused a river to burst its banks in the predawn hours of Tuesday. The worst floods hit the town of Mthatha and surrounding areas, sweeping away victims along with parts of their houses and cars. Oscar Mabuyane, the premier of Eastern Cape province, said the floods struck while many people were asleep. The water was 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) high in places when it flowed out of a river and into nearby communities, he added. 'It's a terrible situation,' Mabuyane told state TV broadcaster SABC. 'It happened at the wrong time.' Mabuyane said local authorities struggled to launch an effective rescue effort as the disaster happened in what he described as a region lacking resources. He said the largely rural Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa, which is home to around 7.2 million people, only has one rescue helicopter. It came to Mthatha from the city of Gqeberha, more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) away. A second helicopter was also brought in to help. He also said the region does not have any specialist rescue divers or K-9 dog units, meaning they had to be called in from elsewhere to help with the search. 'When things like this happen, we are always found wanting,' said Mabuyane. 'We are paralyzed.' People were stranded on rooftops and in trees Rescue teams brought bodies out of the water in blue body bags. Witnesses said many people had taken refuge on the tops of buildings or in trees and some were heard calling for help for hours. The death toll had risen to 78 by Thursday evening, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said on SABC. He led a national government delegation to the province and earlier briefed reporters at one of the affected areas. 'This is a real disaster and a catastrophe when we have so many people dying,' Hlabisa said. He added that part of the problem was that many people in the area were living on a flood plain close to the river. Provincial government officials said they believed people were still missing but did not give an exact number and rescue efforts would continue on Friday. The missing had included four high school students who were swept away when their bus was caught up in the floods on its way to school early Tuesday morning. Authorities did not immediately say if those four children were among the latest bodies retrieved. Six students who were on the bus had already been confirmed dead, along with the driver and another adult. Three other students were rescued after clinging onto trees and calling out for help, according to the provincial government. Authorities had issued weather warnings The floods hit the province after an extreme cold front brought heavy rain, strong winds and snow to parts of eastern and southern South Africa. Forecasters had warned about the damaging weather last week. Officials said at least 127 schools and 20 health facilities in the Eastern Cape were damaged, while around 1,000 people were in community shelters after their houses were submerged or washed away. Critical infrastructure including roads and bridges was also badly damaged, Mabuyane said. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he would travel to the Eastern Cape on Friday 'to see exactly how our people are suffering there and see how we can console the families.' Ramaphosa announced earlier in the week that he had activated the National Disaster Management Center to help local authorities in the Eastern Cape. Some opposition political parties criticized the government, with the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party saying the tragedy was a result of 'government neglect' in parts of the Eastern Cape.