Great Balls O' Hail

So, where were you this morning when the skies turned black as night, and huge balls of ice began plummeting to the earth?  In our office, we stood with our noses pressed to the glass watching in frank amazement.  None of us had ever seen hailstones of that size.  Some were big as quarters, others more like marbles. They littered the grass, the sidewalks, and the roofs.

When the rain subsided a little bit, I went outside to fetch a few of the ice balls.  Here is one of the larger ones I brought back to the office.  One of my friends offered to serve as a model to, as she said, put the size of the hail into perspective.  She was right.  Very impressive.

Orion was out on a job repairing a major water line, and forwarded me this photo of the melting spheres.  More perspective. Those are hands that do hard work.

Orion and I noticed the strange patterns found in the melting hailstones, almost like growth rings in a tree.  The ice seemed to be composed of very different densities.  It must have been quite a journey through the atmosphere, making its way to our little town.

Thankfully, there was no damage to my trusty Suburban.  Actually, the torrential rain did me a favor.  I may be able to put off that wash job for another several weeks.