Dental Assisting School Near Port Salerno, FL

Gianna Montesano

The Treasure Coast was pelted with hail during the afternoon of May 5, with reports of 2-inch-diameter hailstones falling in parts of the area, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

Hail fell in Fort Pierce, Port Salerno and Vero Beach, TCPalmpreviously reported. Hail also fell throughout other parts of Florida, including Brevard and Palm Beach counties.

The largest hailstones reported on the Treasure Coast were 2-inch-diameter balls that fell near Lawnwood Stadium at 1302 Virginia Ave. in Fort Pierce, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Jared Heil.

The National Weather Service also had reports of these hailstones:

What's the historically largest hail that has ever fallen on the Treasure Coast? The National Weather Service did not have that data available, but TCPalm previously reported that 3-inch-diameter hailstones fell over St. Lucie and Indian River counties on Feb. 13, 1995.

Here's what to know about hail in Florida.

Does it hail in Florida?

It’s hail season on the Treasure Coast during February, March and April, according to the National Weather Service.

The beginning of May slides into that timeframe. It's when temperatures in the middle and upper atmosphere are at their coldest.

When there's enough moisture to create thunderstorms in spring, they tend to become prolific hail producers, meteorologist Will Ulrich previously told TCPalm.

On March 25, the Treasure Coast got hit by an isolated hailstorm, in which some people found their yards covered in about 3 inches of dime-sized balls of ice, TCPalm reported.

Hail forms when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The hailstones then grow when colliding with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone.

(This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)

The state confirmed a nontoxic algae bloom in Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno on Jan. 2.

A prime suspect is Lake Okeechobee discharges that started a month ago, which floods the brackish St. Lucie River with freshwater and nutrients that feed algae, said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart. Perry has asked the Department of Environmental Protection to do more tests to prove him right or wrong.

"They don't just appear by themselves," Perry said of algae blooms. "The discharges are harmful to the estuaries and need to stop."

The Army Corps of Engineers has released over 23.75 billion gallons of water into the river since Dec. 7, which has lowered the lake level from 16 feet on Dec. 7 to 14.98 feet on Tuesday.

Discharges are expected to continue into March as the Army Corps tries to lower the lake level to either 11.5 feet for 60 days or 12 feet for 90 days if it can't achieve the lower level, Col. Brandon Bowman said. The ultimate goal is 13 feet by May 1, to make room for heavy summer rains.

Lake O discharges contain polluted freshwater from two sources: the lake and rainfall runoff that drains from White City in Fort Pierce south to the C-44 Canal that runs from the lake to the St. Lucie Lock & Dam in Stuart.

The South Florida Water Management District Tuesday acknowledged the river's salinity level is in the "stressful range" for marine life such as oysters.