Sunday, February 19, 2012

Monday's Hail Storm




Last Monday afternoon we had a huge hail storm in the upper Blue Mountains. It was a freak storm that even made the news. We had a channel 7 TV news crew interviewing one the neighbours 5 doors down from our house, and the TV network helicopters flying around over the house and the surrounding streets which Lou thought was amazing (he loves helicopters). It was a was a crazy afternoon. The storm only went for a short time but it was really frightening, watching out the window as the hail stones grew bigger and bigger. I have never experienced anything like it. The sound on the tin roof was deafening as the hail stones grew to ping pong ball size. Lou and I stayed in the middle of the house as I was worried about smashing windows. Our car-port roof had hail damage - the hail went straight through it. And my car ...... it's got hail stone damage all over it :(


Lou was very brave. We just held each other, hoping for the storm to pass with out any broken windows.




Here are some of the sizes of the hail stones, and over an inch deep of hail stones near my front door.






This one in Lou's hand was the size of a ping-pong ball. It had melted a bit while Lou was playing with it.




As soon as it was safe to go out side after the lightning and thunder had passed, we had a play in the ice. It's crazy, this is Summer! It was like we had a downpour of snow. Everything on the ground was white. Some parts of my garden were a couple of inches thick in hail stones.




So Lou and I made an Ice-Man. It wasn't that easy - the hail stones were like marbles and kept falling down but we managed to get the ice-man this high. Wow, it was so cold on the fingers. But Lou loved it. He loves the cold (he can't handle the heat) so he was able to play with the hail stones longer than me.







This was the street. It had melted a bit by the time I ventured out this far again with my camera. There was thunder and lighting still going on above me, so it wasn't safe to be outside. I am on top of a hill and lighting strikes the highest spot, so I waited for it to pass.


When I came out again I took these pictures. Some of the neighbours and I were out on the street shaking our heads in disbelief. We had all agreed that we have never experienced anything like it. We had our cameras out to take pictures to prove we weren't exaggerating about what had just happened. The lady across the road was devastated - it had just wiped out her veggie patch.


I looked back at my garden and saw the damage. I didn't notice it before because I had just been concentrating on Lou and playing with the hail stones. It kind of looked like snow and it did look beautiful. I didn't think to look at the damage it did my garden. It looked like it had been hit by a blunt whipper-snipper.


My herb garden, which was planted by the previous owner, was flattened :( (I'm sad about that). The smell of the herbs was really pungent and it looked like it had been hit by a mortar & pestle. The picture below is the garden near my front door.





We have had such a wet cold Summer up here, and all this week we have had thunder storms. I'm still a bit nervous .... we had hail here today but it only went for a minute. I've been a bit sad about my garden all week, so it has taken me a while to post about what happened on Monday.



8 comments:

Pumpkin said...

That is incredible! I'm glad to hear that no one was seriously hurt (other than the poor plants). I cannot believe how large some of that hail was!

Kirschenzeit said...

A hail-man, how cute :-)

karisma said...

Oh my! This weather lately has been really crazy. Love the pictures especially the one with the leaf. I think the herb garden will bounce back pretty quickly. Mine generally does. It would be nice if this weather would go back to a normal pattern though. As lovely as the hail looks it can be a menace at the wrong time. I remember once being hit by stones as big as golf balls and it was not fun. sorry about your car but glad you were safe inside at the time.

Anonymous said...

wow! sounds a bit frightning and exciting at the same time. i love the picture with the leave and your ice man too.

Faeryfay said...

Oh my goodness! What a storm! We've had hail and thunderstorms here too! A bit frightening!

Raggle Taggle Gypsy Girl said...

Great photos Anne, you and Lou looked like you had a lot of fun after the storm had subsided......Really love the photo of the hail with the leaf.....and the snowman was adorable....You guys got it so much worse than us.....We had about 1min of small hail, but then the most spectacular lightning thunder show......

Sea Star said...

We were wonderring how you went with this. the weather has been extreme hasn't it?? You will have that garden sorted out again in no time.
Mel
xx

Lynne said...

But everyone was safe and that is the most important thing!