JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hailstones are falling everywhere in an outbreak of severe weather during the Weather Authorities Severe Weather Alert Day.
WJXT Meteorologist Johnathan Stacy spotted dime sized hail in Glen St. Marys along I-10.
Multiple storms dropped hail from pea sized hail on Beach Boulevard and I-295 in Jacksonville to golf ball 1.75" hail at Jacksonville International Airport. Damaging 1.5 inch hail hit Hilliard hard as storms tracked through Nassau County.
SLIDESHOW: Quarter- and golf ball-sized hail falls in Baker County
Strong upward motion of air in the thunderstorms are lofting raindrops above the low freezing level at 12,679 feet.
Griffin shared this massive hail stone that was found in Macclenny.
So much hail is the result of strong vertical blasts of wind inside storms. Those updrafts suspend frozen rain drops through multiple up and down motions in the cloud. With each cycle the hail grows larger until it is too heavy and falls to the ground.
The National Weather Service launched a special weather balloon at 10 am and discovered just the right ingredients for severe weather: high insatiability and moist air with low freezing levels.