NWS Little Rock, AR - Hail and Wind in June, 2023 (2024)

There was way too much hail in June, 2023. Almost two dozen reports of two inch diameter hail (hen egg size) or larger were received on the 14th. One storm in particular deposited up to softball size hail from northeast of Sims (Montgomery County) to the Hot Springs (Garland County) area, Malvern (Hot Spring County), and Star City (Lincoln County). Another storm unloaded softball size stones near DeGray (Clark County), with a third storm chunking out tennis balls northwest of Birta (Yell County) and just north of Springfield (Conway County).

On the 16th, baseball size hail dropped from the sky at Hot Springs Village (Garland County), east of Traskwood (Saline County), and Sheridan (Grant County).

Grapefruit size hail pelted Thola (Searcy County) on the 25th, with hail slightly larger than baseballs a few miles northwest of Gold Hill (Pope County), Landis (Searcy County), Mountain View (Stone County), and Timbo (Stone County). Salus (Johnson/Newton Counties) got tennis ball size hail.

By the time the month was over, there was more very large hail (two inches in diameter or bigger) than in any other June on record in Arkansas.

With the exception of 2005 and 2013, baseball size or larger hail was observed in Arkansas at least once a year since 1980 (through 2023). Hail at least softball size occurred once every other year (23 of 44 years). As far as numbers of reports, of the roughly 6,342 instances of quarter size or larger hail, 2,641 were at least golf balls (41.6% of reports), 292 were at least baseballs (4.6% of reports), and 60 were at least softballs (0.9% of reports). The largest hailstones were five inches in diameter (slightly larger than a DVD) on January 21, 1999; April 2, 2006; and May 4, 2020.

While the hail was impressive in June, so was the wind. On the 18th, thunderstorm wind gusts caused 100,000 power outages across the state. Also, there were tornadoes (both rated EF2) that spun up two to three miles south of Scranton (Logan County), and from seven miles southeast of Calion (Union County) to eight miles north-northeast of Strong (Union County). The last time two tornadoes of at least this intensity materialized on the same day in June was in 1979 (on the 28th).

On the 25th, gusts from 75 to 80 mph were measured near McCreanor and Tomberlin (both in Lonoke County). A 69 mph gust was recorded at Little Rock National Airport (Pulaski County), and Swifton (Jackson County) had a 68 mph gust. The wind gusted to 60 mph at DeWitt (Arkansas County), and 59 mph at Jonesboro Municipal Airport (Craighead County). Tree and/or power pole damage was widespread. A whopping 150,000 utility customers lost power! According to one media source, a local official in Conway (Faulkner County) called it the worst storm damage in decades. A tree landed on a mobile home at Carlisle (Lonoke County) and killed two people (another occupant was injured).