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Ice Chip Campaign: Field Study of Extreme Hail Near Amarillo, Texas Demonstrates How We Predict and Mitigate Storm Damage
In this video, James Deneen follows the IceChip field campaign outside Amarillo, Texas, where researchers from more than a dozen universities and the National Weather Service are conducting the largest-ever survey of extreme hail. A moving convoy deploys a suite of instruments including the Raven drone, foam hail pads, and impact sensors to capture hail formation, growth, and ground damage as storms approach and pass. The team aims to improve hail prediction, ground truthing for radar signals, and resilience strategies for roofs and infrastructure. The day culminates with hundreds of hailstones collected, revealing varied hardness and densities that will inform safer, more durable building materials and forecasting.
Overview
The video documents the Ice Chip campaign, an ambitious, in-situ investigation into how the largest hailstones form, how they fall to the ground, and how warnings can be improved. Filmed near Amarillo, Texas, the project brings together researchers from more than a dozen universities and the National Weather Service to study hail events that cause billions in damage annually. The effort seeks to fill long-standing gaps in understanding hail formation, ground impact, and radar-based detection, with the goal of reducing losses from hailstorms and informing more resilient infrastructure.
“We’re journeying into the heart of the storm, searching for answers on how the most damaging hail can be better predicted.” - James Deneen
Ice Chip Campaign and Partners
Ice Chip is described as the in-situ collaborative experiment for collecting hail in the plains, led by on-the-ground meteorologists such as John Allen and supported by researchers across multiple institutions and the National Weather Service. The campaign emphasizes ground-truthing hail formation and exploring how hail travels from storm to surface, with implications for warning accuracy and public safety.
“IceChip is the in-situ collaborative experiment for collection of hail in the plains.” - John Allen
Instrumentation and Methods
The field operation features a network of 50 instruments, including the Raven drone with 3D wind, GPS, pressure, and environmental sensors, weather-tracking vans, and foam hail pads arranged to map hail swaths and size distributions. In addition, impact astrometers and large-hair ditto distrometers record the timing, size, and impact characteristics of hail to build a detailed meteorological picture of each storm.
“We got hail at least to 74 millimeters, possibly more.” - John Allen
The Storm Chase Day
On a day of heightened tornado risk, the Ice Chip convoy advances toward developing supercells in northwest Texas, deploying instruments ahead of the storm core. The crew experiences intense winds, flooding, and violent hail as they track, sample, and photograph stones ranging from golf-ball to several inches in diameter. The mission captures both the meteorological dynamics and the material properties of hail, including varying hardness and growth histories that inform both technology design and risk assessment.
“We’re the leading edge of the Ice Chip campaign, the first car to go into the core of the storm.” - John Allen
Findings, Implications, and Next Steps
As samples are collected and analyzed, researchers examine the diversity of hailstones, their growth environments, and how different roof materials respond to impact. The data may inform more resilient roofing solutions and improved warning systems that integrate field measurements with radar observations. Although storms of this magnitude pose dangers to people and property, the Ice Chip campaign demonstrates how coordinated field science can enhance our understanding of severe weather and help communities prepare for future events.
“There are roofing panels that are being deployed in these hailstorms to see, are they more resilient, could we use this type of shingle to fix this problem.” - James Deneen