A severe hailstorm pelted swaths of the Denver area Thursday evening, damaging cars, homes and trees — and more severe weather is possible Friday.
The destructive hail rained down on central and east Denver, Aurora and some of the northern suburbs, including Thornton, Broomfield and Northglenn. Hail up to 2.75 inches wide — just shy of the size of a baseball — was reported in Commerce City, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder. Many other locations recorded hail more than an inch in diameter.
The storm will likely be one of the more destructive hail events in Denver history, but it’s a little early to tell until damage can be assessed, Bernie Meier with the National Weather Service in Boulder said Friday morning. The storm was one of the largest in the metro area since a massive storm in May 2017 that caused more than $2 billion in damage.
“It’ll be one of the bigger ones as far as damage goes for Denver,” Meier said of Thursday night’s storm.
The blast of hail started around 9 p.m. in some areas and forced motorists to hide under gas station pavilions. The National Weather Service also received reports of windshields broken by the falling ice.
Aurora police reported damaged cars and buildings and scrambled to respond to a rash of security alarms set off by the storm.
More severe weather is possible Friday afternoon, according to NWS. Large hail, damaging winds and heavy rain are possible from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. east of the main urban core, from Greeley to Colorado Springs.
Areas southeast of Denver will have the highest chance for severe storms, Meier said. Chances for storms will increase if temperatures warm later in the day and chances will decrease if weather remains cool and cloudy as it was Friday morning, he said.
“It’s one of those iffy days,” Meier said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.