A giant chunk of hail that plunged into the
prairie town of Vivian, S.D., last Friday was confirmed today as the
heaviest hailstone ever recorded in the United States.

The National Climate Extremes Committee, a branch
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
confirmed the weight of a record 1.94 pounds and also a record diameter
(8 inches).

The previous heaviest — a hailstone stone that
fell in Coffeyville, Kan., on Sept. 3, 1970. — was 1.67 pounds,.
according to records from the National Climatic Data Center.

The world record belongs to a 2.25-pound hailstone that fell in
Bangladesh on April 14, 1986,according to Paul Hudspetha, a
meteorologist at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

The hailstone is on its way to the National
Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., where scientists will
store it in a cold lab and study its growth rings and other traits to
learn more about how hail forms, says Dave Hintz, a meteorologist at the
weather service in Aberdeen.

Also planned: Two castings will be made — one for
a museum in Lyman County, S.D. and another for founder Leslie Scott to keep in his
home.

Image By David
Montgomery, Pierre (S.D.) Capital Journal