April 4, 2008
Were You Hit By This Morning's Hailstorm?
A so-called "supercell" thunderstorm raged across North Texas this morning, dropping softball-sized hail in areas as close as Denton. Parts of North and Central Austin were ravaged by slightly smaller, but nevertheless damaging, balls of ice, leaving some cars badly dented.
Austin360's Matthew Odam has posted a bunch of photos:
And now for something completely different. Around 8 a.m. I was awakened by the sound of objects pelting my house. I figured it was just a dream, or some damned kids trying to disturb my beauty rest with a full-on pellet assault. There was no way it could be hail. Not in April. Not considering the fact that when I went to bed at 2 a.m. it was 65 degrees outside. Naturally I did not get out of bed, but after searching Flickr this morning, I realized that it was, in fact, a hailstorm that deposited chunks of ice ranging from marble size to golf ball size.
The good news is that the worst has passed.
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I got hail but of course, like everything, the man only gave me a little bit while lavishing the hail upon the people that can afford a home.
I think the entry's comment about how strange it was to have hail and warm temperatures is completely off the mark.
Hail most often occurs in warm-weather storm cells--most frequently in summer. It is SLEET that occurs when it is cold outside. The hail forms in super cells as water droplets cycle up into the upper layers of the storm cell clouds where the temperatures are naturally very cold and then become ice. Hail size increases as the ice droplets cycle back up into the super cell and accumulate more water that freezes. Eventually, gravity takes control and they fall.
That's what I remember from my grade school textbook on this topic.
I enjoyed the little pea-sized hails that fell in my east side hood this morning.
I've heard people talk about golf ball sized hail, but this is the first I've seen.
it is true, hail happens when it is above freezing down here on earth, i'm just saying i was outside in a somewhat muggy evening just hours before, and it seemed strange. of course, at 8am everything seems strange. i thought iwas kinda cool, until i saw little dents all over my car this afternoon. DAMN IT! Thanks for the clarification on hail, though, madcity. Science is not my strength