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[JCZ]

Driving from Rapid City to Deadwood to have dinner with old friends, Blair and Christine from Victoria, BC, Canada.  No rain but there were some clouds, stereo playing, Babe and I were just talking and I driving 60 mph through the Black Hills when rat-a-tat-tat. 

It sounded like the sky opened up and somebody was dropping marbles on us.....large marbles.  I slammed on the brakes and stopped right in the road (to try to minimize the damage).  Yesterday I was in a truck returning from Custer with three local guys and they're all talking about hail damage (all three guys grew up here in the Black Hills and all three have experienced hail damage on several cars and trucks, each).  I asked a few questions "what does it do.....chip your paint?".   No, just puts little dings in your sheet metal.....look at our trucks when we get back to the RV park. 

Guess maybe I shouldn't have asked so many questions about hail.

Was great to see Blair & Christine again.  We reminisced about many of the past Western CVO GTGs, joked and laughed a lot....remembering some great times and great friends.  Lookin forward to the next time our paths cross...   

[bigsixman]

JCZ, look at a lot of the homes and buildings out there and you will see that they have steel roofs for a good reason. I have been going out there since 1996 and we have had hail in some area of the Black Hills about every year.

[Rooster]

Good thing it wasn't as bad as a few years back with golf ball size hail that did horrible damage to bikes and vehicles as well as Full Throttle sustained a lot of damage as well. The body shops get alot of work after a bad hail storm. Best to run for cover.

[CVODON]

A bad hail storm is when as you look thru the windshield you watch the dents appear, just prior to it breaking the wiper arms off. Then you go home and call insurance company so you can be first inline to get a new roof on your house. One good thing about newer technology is most hail damage can now be repaired with PDR (paintless dent repair) vs having to body work every (100's) of dents on your car.

[JCZ]

JCZ, look at a lot of the homes and buildings out there and you will see that they have steel roofs for a good reason. I have been going out there since 1996 and we have had hail in some area of the Black Hills about every year.

I agree.....the worst wind I've ever rode in was coming back from the Badlands about ten years ago.  And the worst hail I'd ever experienced was on Iron Mtn. Rd.  The bikes were all parked right in the road and everybody was up under trees (most were in t-shirts) but that was only marble size hail.  The news last night reported that it was quarter size hail....the largest this California native had ever seen.  Last night, like other times here in the Black Hills, it only lasted about ten minutes, then it turned to rain, to light showers and stopped as soon as I got to the Best Western in Deadwood. 

Christine had covered the top sides of their gas tanks and fenders with towels and with several other bikes in the parking lot, I didn't even recognize their bikes when I first pulled in.  Smart move on her part.

The Black Hills already have bikes from all over the nation and Canada at each hotel.  People can really enjoy the BH when it's not rally week.    It's normal in the late afternoons, for about an hour or so, rain or hail, just like during the rally.  Get your riding in early and be back to the hotel by 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. cuz it's going to come down at least every 3rd day or so.

I have noticed several paint & body shops around town advertise "hail damage repair". 

[Joel]

We're  heading that way for the 4th of July week, hopefully we will be lucky enough not to see or feel any hail.

[JCZ]

We're  heading that way for the 4th of July week, hopefully we will be lucky enough not to see or feel any hail.

Well, it's happened from time to time all through May and now Jun (but last night was, by far, the largest).  And I've been to Sturgis a number of times during the rally in Aug. and it seems like it happened at least once during the rally in Aug. 

But you can watch the doppler radar before you leave your hotel and just know that it happens in the late afternoons, early evenings.  You'll see it starting to cloud up and you know you have about half an hour or so to get some where out of the rain and/or hail.  The weather forecast will usually tell you the night before or that morning, if hail is expected.

Blaire and Christine said they were sitting there in front of their hotel room watching it on the weather app on their phone and knew to the minute when it was going to hit.  Like I mentioned above, it's always short lived......just pull into a gas station, take your time filling up and it'll be over with by the time you're ready to roll.   

[GC_Super]

We just had a storm this week roll thru North Texas with softball size hail. Covered over a hundred miles. Saw some really bad damage in the news.

[FLSTFI Dave]

My wife and I were in Sturgis for the 75th, She was on a custom painted Road Glide Special 2015.  I was on my 15 CVO Road Glide ultra.  Poured hard in Sturigs, a river going down Lazzell st.  When there was a break in the weather we rode back to our hotel in Spearfish.  About 15 minutes later was the worst hail storm I have ever seen, and I have seen many in Sturgis.  Our bikes were both damaged.  She had 5500 dollars damage on hers and mine was right at 6100 dollars.  Hail was over an inch deep in the parking lot.  Several cars lost front or rear windows.  Even the bikes and cars under the entrance to the hotel were damaged. 

[bbrown]

My wife and I were in Sturgis for the 75th, She was on a custom painted Road Glide Special 2015.  I was on my 15 CVO Road Glide ultra.  Poured hard in Sturigs, a river going down Lazzell st.  When there was a break in the weather we rode back to our hotel in Spearfish.  About 15 minutes later was the worst hail storm I have ever seen, and I have seen many in Sturgis.  Our bikes were both damaged.  She had 5500 dollars damage on hers and mine was right at 6100 dollars.  Hail was over an inch deep in the parking lot.  Several cars lost front or rear windows.  Even the bikes and cars under the entrance to the hotel were damaged.

I experienced that one between Hill City and Deadwood and it was not fun.  A local old Sioux Gentleman told me to watch the clouds.   “If you see lime green it’s going to hail on you soon.”  He is accurate!!

[JCZ]

We just returned from Custer and about eight miles before we rolled back in to Rapid City traffic was down to one lane with fire, highway patrol and ambulance.  Dead dear in the median shoulder that was ripped wide open just in front of the hind quarter.  Bike was a Street Glide and was up on the kickstand but the front end was destroyed.  Didn't appear to be any damage to the bags on the left side (couldn't see the right side).  Not sure if he made it without laying the bike down or not.

But we did find it interesting that there were several emergency people standing around the open back door of the ambulance.  But it was still sitting there as we approached (traffic funneling down in to one lane on the median shoulder) and eventually passed.  They already had the rider in the ambulance before we got there but we couldn't figure out why the ambulance hadn't left yet.  Unless.......he made it through that without going down and they were just checking him out.  The deer and the front of the bike (including the windshield) were destroyed. 

It's been in the 80s and 90s here this past week.  I could stand for it to go back down in to the 70s.

[johnsachs]

Hail and deer seem to be common at the Sturgis Rally. I've seen cars totaled out by grapefruit sized hail. Staying in Belle Fourche, the ride from Sturgis is something you need to be very aware of because of the amount of deer near the roads.
Tornados are another problem as well. 
John

[ultrarider123]

Black Hills, Sturgis rally 1997...HUGE storm rolls through Sturgis and we are standing inside Sturgis HD watching all the action.  We had rented a house out past Lead that year and once the storm blew threw (great pictures....if I can find them) we headed to the house.  It was dark when we went through Deadwood and the road wasn't a four lane yet from Sturgis to Deadwood but we noticed what looked like snow piled up on the sides of the road.  Turns out they had 4 (that's FOUR) INCHES of hail in Lead/Deadwood from the storm that came through Sturgis.  They had to get the snow plows out to clear the streets.  If I had heard about it and not seen it, I don't think I would have believed it.  It was small, dime and nickle sized hail stones...

.....never seen nuttin like it before or since....

.....update, found the Sturgis after storm pic....