A Hail of a Day

hail sprinkled on the ground

My niece sent me the photo above from a few days ago. An unexpected cold front swept in from the north and dumped waves of hail and heavy rain on most of western Washington. She had to hastily abandon her landscaping and run for the door to escape being hit with those small sharp pellets. She said this pea-sized hail fell for ten minutes. We had several of these lengthy bouts with hail that day. The hail showers were punctuated by the rumble of thunder and followed by soaking downpours that lasted between twenty minutes and an hour. The sun didn't pop out but the heavy cloud cover would lift briefly between squalls -- then darken and hit us again with another wave.

As you can see in the picture, the peat starter pots have no seedlings. It's the third time they've been planted and everyone is hoping they will germinate and grow and survive the transplanting.

Now, I know if you live in the Midwest or "back" East as we westerners say, you probably find this fixation with such mundane weather laughable. Believe me, we are grateful our hail doesn't cause multimillion dollar damage as it does elsewhere in the country.

Just last month Hubby's nephew in Nebraska suffered hail damage to his mini-van. It was totaled when a brief hail shower swept over the parking lot while he was at work. It took baseball sized hail just a few minutes to destroy his car and about 200 hundred others in the lot.

Our friends on the road trip left Oklahoma City the day before the tornado [and it's associated hail and severe thunder storm] killed many people. The damage to personal property, homes, crops, and livestock is well into the millions.

But in our quiet way, we suffer the disappointment of hail ruining delicate plants and the surprise of our hilly terrain suddenly slick with a layer of ice. It's scary to be caught behind the wheel when a hail squall rolls over. We're all hoping for warmer days soon, with no threat of rain or hail or temperatures 20 degrees below normal.

For more information: Wiki hail, hail storms, comprehensive Midwestern hail storm listings, costly hail storms, hail safety tips.

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