Two Memorable Storms, 1970 and 1993
“At Least I Wasn’t Golfing”
We hear these loud and ominous thuds. My mom and I rush to the front door where we watch these huge chunks of ice fall from the sky.
Did you know that there are hailstone spotters just as there are tornado spotters or chasers made famous in the 1996 movie “Twister” with Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton? Hailstone spotters often enlist the help of local police officers who will use their radar guns to determine how fast the larger hailstones fall. “If you are driving through the Great Plains and see a police car with the window cracked and a radar gun pointed skyward, you’ll now know what’s going on – just don’t look up (Warm).”
This unprecedented storm produced unbelievably large hailstones and one was officially announced to be the absolute largest hailstone to ever fall in the world (and yes, it achieved Guinness World Record status).
Coffeyville Hailstone Statistics
Date: September 3, 1970
Diameter: 5.7 inches
Circumference: 17.5 inches
Weight: 1.67 pounds
Speed: 105 mph
After the storm was over, pretty much everyone in town got a new roof. Years and years later, Gary was listening to the radio as we got ready for work on September 3. They had a trivia contest asking where the largest hailstone fell (this was in the days before ‘Google’ was a thing). Gary called immediately and of course responded with the correct answer. He won an armload of prizes (okay, think along the terms of a mug, sticker, and T-shirt).
(***Disclaimer – Coffeyville still holds the record for the fastest falling hailstorm, but on April 14, 1986 Bangladesh ‘won’ the record for heaviest hailstorm at 2 pounds; no other measurements were given. On July 23, 2010, Vivian, South Dakota obtained the record with a stone that was 8 inches in diameter and weighed 1.94 pounds.)
“It Isn’t Raining – How Could we Have a Flood?”
Riverside County, California had a wet December in 1992 with lots of snow in the mountains that resulted in a heavy snowpack. In January Riverside County experienced a two week storm siege. The almost continuous rain combined with snowpack run-off created a disaster in Riverside County. “A bridge over the San Gorgonio River was destroyed near Banning and a dike failure in Whitewater flooded several area roads with mud and debris. Rising waters around the city of Desert Hot Springs cut off roadways leaving the city isolated (“Weather History”).”
Tired of all the rain, we were glad to head off to school with relatively dry conditions. As we were pulling out of our driveway, we noticed Jim, our fellow teacher who lived across the street, standing outside. We pulled up and asked if he needed a ride. He had been waiting for Irene who also lived in Mission Springs Country Club to pick him up, but there was no sign of her. (Okay, she had a reputation for forgetting Jim but that’s another story.) We headed to school but the street to get out of the complex was flooded, so we went to another exit. It was also flooded. We then drove up by the clubhouse but the water was shooting over the road while boulders were rolling across the road. Back home we went, called school, and our principal, Diana, told us school was called off and that they were currently making sure that all students who had already arrived were able to get home safely. We dropped Jim off, went inside, then decided since we were all dressed up with no plans we would drive back up to the clubhouse to catch some breakfast and see what was going on. Lo and behold, the road was mostly clear so we decided to go to the store and pick up some groceries and check to see if there was anything we could help with at school.
Once we arrived at school, everything was under control so we got our groceries, and made our way back home. However, things did not go as planned. The roads were again impassable so we went back to school to wait it out and put our groceries in the fridge.
Several teachers from the Indio and La Quinta area had arrived at school before Desert Hot Springs was completely cut off and were finding it impossible to make it across the freeway. Everyone regrouped back at school. They decided the safest way to continue their trek home was to caravan so that no one would be stranded. They tried all the known ways to get across the freeway, but failed. Back to school they came.
In the meantime, since we were right next door to Vons, a group decision was made that it was time for a DSMS champagne brunch. We got all the brunch ingredients and made sure that there was lots of fresh, hot coffee for the drivers. We turned this disaster into a festive occasion.
One of the teachers from Indio remembered a back way that might have potential in order to cross the freeway. They tried and while it looked promising, they weren’t able to accomplish the crossing. However, with a bit of patience and several tries, they finally were able to make it home.
Even though we lived closer, it looked pretty bleak for us. Eventually we were able to make it to the freeway (though not across) and took I-10 to Hwy 62 where we were able to also get home. This was definitely a unique DSMS memory.
Sources
Dillon, Jeff. Desert Hot Springs Tallies Initial Damage at $220,000. The Desert Sun, 20 Jan. 1993, https://www.newspapers.com/image/748992226.
“District History.” District History | Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, https://rcflood.org/About-the-District/District-History.
Gorman, Tom, and Susan Moffat. “At Least 5 Killed as Floods Sweep through Southland : Storm: Downpour Swells Rivers and Washes out Roads, Prompting Daring Rescues. Tornado Hits Orange County.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 1993, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-18-mn-1344-story.html.
Jones, Jennifer. “5 Largest Hailstones in the World.” Largest.org, 26 Nov. 2018, https://largest.org/nature/hailstones.
Ritter, Ken. “20 Jan 1993, 1 – Emergency Declared in Riverside County.” Newspapers.com, The Desert Sun, 20 Jan. 993AD, https://www.newspapers.com/image/748992130/?terms=%22The+Desert+Sun%22&match=1.
Warm, Luke. “The World’s Heaviest, Fastest and Most Beloved Hailstone.” The World’s Heaviest, Fastest and Most Beloved Hailstone., 20 May 2005, http://www.texasescapes.com/They-Shoe-Horses-Dont-They/Worlds-Heaviest-Fastest-Most-Beloved-Hailstone.htm.
Weather History – National Weather Service. https://www.weather.gov/media/sgx/documents/weatherhistory.pdf.
“West Reels After Series of Storms.” Newspapers.com, The Desert Sun, 20 Jan. 1993, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88400539/20-jan-1993-wed-p-2/.
“World’s Heaviest Hailstone.” World’s Heaviest Hailstone | Coffeyville, KS – Official Website, https://www.coffeyville.com/345/Hailstone.
