Hail in the Great Plains
Dear Tom,
On a visit to the Black Hills of South Dakota, my family and I noticed outdoor neon signs
had screens over them for protection from hail. Is hail that frequent there?
--James Walker, Madison, Wis.
Dear James,
It is. Large hail is massively damaging. It flattens crops, shatters windows, dents cars and
kills birds and small mammals. Chicago experiences an average of two days per year with
hail. Most of it is small and causes no damage. But the frequency of hail, and especially
the frequency of large, damaging hail, increases steadily westward from Chicago. Hail is a
costly problem in the Great Plains, especially across Wyoming and Colorado. Cheyenne,
Wyo., with nine hail days annually, is the "hail capital" of the nation. The Black Hills, 200
miles northeast of Cheyenne, logs six hail days per year.