Tracking Colorado Deep Hail, The CHAT Project

news image
Special Stories
23 May 2018 3:34 AM
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hail damage costs can range in the billions of dollars annually. For instance, several of the United States' 2017 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters involved severe storms and hail, including the devastating severe storms and hail events that impacted Colorado and the central United States during May 2017.     This makes it very important to track deep hail events and why the National Weather Service and the University of Colorado have partnered on the Colorado Hail Accumulations from Thunderstorms (CHAT) Project, a project that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The CHAT Project is an effort to better understand and eventually forecast the thunderstorms that produce these events, and the CHAT Project needs the help of the public. The NWS and University of Colorado have developed a radar-based algorithm that can determine hail depth, and once deep hail is indicated with the algorithm, volunteers would be asked to go out and verify hail depths, along with taking pictures of the hail. Verification of the NWS/CU hail algorithm could potentially lead to better forecasting of the types of thunderstorms that produce deep hail events and potentially lead to better protections for society from financial losses due to hail. The project runs from May to September, 2018. If anyone is interested in volunteering for the project, contact Dr. Katja Friedrich at Katja.Friedrich@Colorado.edu. You can also learn more about the CHAT project at http://clouds.colorado.edu/deephail/. For WeatherNation, I am Meteorologist Marcus Walter.
All Weather News
More
Historic Snow Leaves Slick Roads into Monday

Historic Snow Leaves Slick Roads into Monday

Snow has started piling up around portions of

1 Feb 2026 6:30 PM
Gulf-Effect Snow Possible This Weekend

Gulf-Effect Snow Possible This Weekend

You've been warned, iguanas. We've had glanci

1 Feb 2026 6:00 PM
Cold Alerts Issued as 100K+ Customers Remain Without Power

Cold Alerts Issued as 100K+ Customers Remain Without Power

While it has now been about a week since a ma

1 Feb 2026 11:25 AM
Rain Finally Makes a Return to the Northwest

Rain Finally Makes a Return to the Northwest

More precipitation is in the forecast across

1 Feb 2026 11:00 AM
Lake-Effect Snow Continues, Shifts Toward Chicago This Weekend

Lake-Effect Snow Continues, Shifts Toward Chicago This Weekend

Persistent bursts of cold air have continued

31 Jan 2026 3:00 AM
Thousands Without Power as another Systems Brews

Thousands Without Power as another Systems Brews

ABOVE - Up to one inch of ice accumulated acr

29 Jan 2026 12:30 PM
Cold Air Sticks Around the Central to Eastern U.S.

Cold Air Sticks Around the Central to Eastern U.S.

Temperatures have been record-breaking with h

29 Jan 2026 2:50 AM