Wot the hail wuzzat???

[Carol]

This week was my week to be on call, and as luck would have it I spent most of the night with a customer that had lost the redundancy in their equipment.

I went to bed around 9am, and woke to a LOOOOUUUUD thunderclap around 1pm or so. Scared the bejeezus out of me and sent my cat whimpering under the bed. I heard another, and then one more. Even through the drawn blinds I could see the lightening flash was simultaneous with the sound. Those strikes are right on top of us.....and I live on a hill...on the top floor of a mid-rise...just to add to the excitement. You could feel the static charge in the air. Its been awhile since I've been truly scared by a thunderstorm...granted I wasn't exactly very rational after being woken up out of a deep sleep...but this definitely scared the Flying Spaghetti Monster out of me.

Soon after that...the rain started coming down. Hard. In fact, it sounded a lot harder than usual. I recall that I had left the window in the ajacent room open and...this sounded like the rain was coming IN the window at full force. I force myself out of bed, kind of expecting to see a huge catastrophe in my second bedroom.

I stumble in and learn that there isn't rain pouring in the window as I thought. I open the blinds and see....hail. BIG hail...I'd wager it was the size of a tootsie pop at least. We don't usually see hail like that in this part of New England.

The NH television station a link on their website with photos captured by local viewers. Stunning photos...especially for a city slicker like me that has not seen much hail.

http://www.wmur.com/ulocal/19758097/detail.html

 

[Flea]

Those are some impressive photos! I find it especially interested to see how jagged some of those stones are. Aren't hailstones supposed to be smooth?

It reminds me of another very impressive storm when I was a teenager. I was camping with my family and had pitched a pup tent of my own. I didn't stake it down because the weather was smooth as glass that afternoon (you can see where this is going, can't you?) We passed a lovely afternoon of lake-gazing and hiking, and settled in for the evening campfire. What a show! Most of the sky was perfectly calm and starry, but on the distant horizon was the most dramatic storm we'd ever seen. The horizon roiled black and purple, and lightning raged constantly. It was so far off that we watched the display for almost an hour over our smores, until we suddenly realized that it was moving fast ... straight towards us.

We dropped everything and dove into our tents like rabbits, and it was on. I spent a couple hours terrified in my little tent as the wind completely flattened the frame down on me. If it weren't for my bag, I would have surely awakened in a tree somewhere in Nebraska. I could feel the wind pick up my tent and carry it; my massive 105 pound frame dragging along the ground with only my butt keeping contact with the earth. In the morning I asked my parents how they fared and they said they slept peacefully through the whole thing.

The moral? Always stake down your tent, obviously. But more to the point, always check the forecast before you go camping!!

 

[Carol]

I honestly don't know if hailstones are supposed to be smooth. The last time I saw hail it was tiny pellets...looked like someone had been sprinkling a bag of Halite on the walkway.

I wish I had been awake enough to grab my camcorder, one of my neighbors from across the way came running out of the building and across the parking lot. Why? So he could pull the car cover out of his trunk and cover up his car. WTF? There is no way in hell (hail?) that I would have gone out in that storm just to cover up a car.

That's amazing that your campsite went from stars to tremendous storms in about an hour or so. I remember from going to high school in the midwest...storms on the plains seem to whip up outta nowhere. Glad you didn't get tossed across Nebraska

 

[Xue Sheng]

We have had a rather unusual amount of hail this year in upstate NY, the last one had hail the size of nickels. And there would be absolutely no way in hell I would have gone outside in it for anything other than to save a family member stuck in it. I did go to my garage with an umbrella to get my wife in the house but not to save my car.

I remember a T-Storm when I was growing up in Peabody Ma that was rather nasty. I am not nor have I ever been scared of T-storms but that one scared the living daylights out of me. But that actually had more to do with the construction of the house that had metal window frames and metal door frames. I saw electricity arc across 2 door frames and the TV go poof during that one and at 11 years old it is pretty damn scary... hail (hell ) it would be pretty damn scary now and I am in my 4th round of 11

One observation though about New England and lightning, I am sure other places have this, but New England is the only place I have ever seen lightning during a stow storm.

 

[Flea]

Thanks Carol. It was a real growth experience for me as I had what might pass as my first Zen moment. At some point I realized that there was absolutely nothing I could do - if I left the tent I would lose it for sure along with all my gear, and I'd have no shelter at all. So I forced myself to let go and sleep, come what may. That morning dawned fresh as a daisy for one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen.

 

[Carol]

Thanks Carol. It was a real growth experience for me as I had what might pass as my first Zen moment. At some point I realized that there was absolutely nothing I could do - if I left the tent I would lose it for sure along with all my gear, and I'd have no shelter at all. So I forced myself to let go and sleep, come what may. That morning dawned fresh as a daisy for one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen.

Now THAT is cool. I don't think I would have had the...what's the right word? Fortitude? Discipline? Mind-over-somethingerother? I don't know if I would have had the je ne sais quoi (because everything sounds classier in French) to do that.

And on that note....another downpour....

This summer has been freaky. I don't think we've gone more than 48 hours without rainfall. Last I looked, NH wasn't anywhere near Seattle...

 

[Xue Sheng]

stow storm.

Not into quoting myself but I see I made a type-o

Not a stow storm but a snow storm...sorry about that

 

[Carol]

Not into quoting myself but I see I made a type-o

Not a stow storm but a snow storm...sorry about that

No worries. Ahhh yes....THUNDERSNOW! That's a lovely tradition, isn't it?

I think that's the clue to stop what you're doing, go to the nearest establishment and order up a round for everyone...because no one is going anywhere for a long time.

 

[MA-Caver]

Not into quoting myself but I see I made a type-o

Not a stow storm but a snow storm...sorry about that

Personally I'm kinda curious as to what a Stow storm looks like? :lol:

My own storm story might be a bit hair-raising. I went out (caving) with a couple of friends and we were at 9K feet above sea-level. It was a 315 foot entrance pit and all that. We were in the cave for a few hours taking pictures and what not. Then headed on out.
One of the guys went on up first then I followed some 15 minutes later ... climbing up the rope I was shocked by a low booming noise. At first I thought it was a large rock enroute down to me and hugged the wall best as I could because there was no-where else to go.... nothing happened. Hmm? Kept climbing and BOOOM!-BOOOM! & I'm like WTF??! As I neared the entrance of the pit the Booming got louder and my buddy topside was yelling at the top of his voice for me to haul *** on up. I did and got off rope and pulled up a couple of times to let the guy down below know that it was clear for him to come on up. This was not a clear straight shot of a pit but a wide corkscrew type that would've made any verbal communication impossible.
The third/last guy came out in time to be greeted by the deluge that was soaking my friend and I totally. The thunder was still booming loud because we were RIGHT INSIDE the storm. It was almost a total white out being amongst the clouds. We got our gear and hauled out the rope and sloppy coiled it and headed on outta that gorge we were in. Lighting strikes were frequent and we could HEAR the lighting... not the thunder that's after it.
The thunder was so loud that it literally knocked us off our feet.
By the time we got back to the Ram Charger the storm passed and it got nice and sunny again.
It's one thing to have a severe storm pass directly overhead... it's quite another to be right INSIDE it.

 

[Carol]

Personally I'm kinda curious as to what a Stow storm looks like? :lol:

It looks like this!

This was a Stow, Massachusetts storm. Juniper Hill, to be precise, where the local folks are enjoying some fresh powder :lol2:

 

[Xue Sheng]

It looks like this!

This was a Stow, Massachusetts storm. Juniper Hill, to be precise, where the local folks are enjoying some fresh powder :lol2:

:lol:

Thanks, I needed the save :asian:

 

[Kacey]

We've been getting thundersnow more and more lately - several times last winter alone. It's pretty odd the first time.

Hail... here's a picture of a recent hailstorm (about 2 weeks ago) looking out my front door.