Worst Hailstorm in History Hammered Missouri Nearly 23 Years Ago

It will forever be remembered as the day when the sky tried to pound Missouri into the ground. The worst hailstorm in history that began in the Kansas City area continued across Missouri until it relented just past St. Louis nearly 23 years ago.

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I was reminded of this horrific Missouri weather event as a small note in a Movoto article about Kansas City, Missouri facts mentioned a weather event I had forgotten about.

April 10, 2001 - the worst hailstorm in history caused $1.5 billion dollars in damage crossing the entire middle part of the state of Missouri. It included monster tornadoes.

Baseball-sized hail was recorded from Kansas City to St. Louis, Missouri. It was truly life-threatening.

The National Weather Service remembers that day with these stunning details:

The supercell produced a swath of large hail approximately 245 miles in length and up to 22 miles in width...insurance claims consist of 120,000 home claims, 65,000 auto claims, and 8,000 commercial claim

They said EVERY home in St. Louis County had some type of hail damage that day. No exceptions.

The storm known as the Tri-State Hailstorm caused damage never seen before or since and occurred over a two-day period from April 10 to April 11, 2001.

The real amazing fact of that Missouri storm was the $1.5 billion dollars in damage wasn't even all of it. That's only the part that was covered by insurance. Much of what fell from the sky those April days destroyed property that was never replaced. Incredible.

It's fortunately not often that you have to shield yourself from hail that can kill you instantly, but that's what happened almost 23 Aprils ago. Let's hope it's never repeated for the sake of us all.