A major hailstorm passed through the southern Appalachians on May 8, 2024. Radar suggests several potential areas of very large hail, but in the weeks that followed, satellite-based monitoring suggests that only some areas had major damage as a result of this system. There is a research need to improve how well we can connect weather-related technologies that suggest broad swaths of potential impacts and forest impact monitoring technologies that document actual impacts at much finer resolution.

According to NOAA storm reports and radar, egg-sized hail occurred east of Barnardsville, Buncombe County, NC in this event. At least 22 car windows were damaged by that hail. One witness reported baseball sized hail, although that has not be verified. Regardless, forest health monitoring from HiForm for the early growing season shows a band of moderately damaged forest canopy from where the reports occurred at Barnardsville (at 2,200') toward Big Butt (at 5,920') through the Pisgah National Forest with isolated areas of more severe damage shown in red on the maps below.  As portions of this watershed were impacted by hurricane Helene four and a half months later (on Sep. 27, 2024), it can be difficult to isolate that with a one year baseline.