Guadalajara was pelted in a storm yesterday that left a couple meters’ worth of hail behind, enough to bury vehicles in ice.
I had absolutely no idea a hail storm of anywhere near that magnitude could happen. This in a place where it’s been in the mid-80s (30C) all week. It would just be so surreal to me to be enjoying a warm summer day, only to wake up to possibly five or six feet worth of hail piled up outside.
I am not sure why, but to me a “Guadalajara Hail Storm” sounds either like a depraved, degrading, taboo sexual act between an orphaned, foundling walrus pup, a sadistic yet devoutly pious Barvarian “Life Coach” and Charlie Sheen, or one of Chili’s $2.99 “Margarita Madness” nightly drink specials.
Wow! My wife and kids flew into Guadalajara early Sat. morning. They said they went to the beach yesterday and didn’t have any weather issues. I think they are staying a bit south of there. Guess they got lucky.
I always thought it an incredibly odd sight to have a hailstorm in the hot, dry summer in the Intermountain West. Sometimes as much as 6" on the ground.
I guess that’s nothing by comparison.
Seconding the “holy crap” and seconding that “Guadalajara Hail Storm” sounds like a sex act. (Possibly a variation of Mexican Halloween.)
Now we know what Steely Dan meant when they said that “Guadalajara won’t do…”
Guadalajara Hail Storm is the name of my next band.
Hey, I thought climate change was supposed to be a Chinese hoax!
Guadalajara did not get 6 feet of hail in that storm. They did get a lot of hail but not that much. Yes, you saw pictures of cars buried in hail, but note those cars were all pushed together or even on top of one another. Also one video I saw had the cars like that, but then there was a barrier and on the other side was a busy multilane road with no hail, cars moving without problem. You’d figure the road would have lots of hail too. Too much for cars to get through easily.
So what happened? Most likely there was flood that pushed those cars together along with the hail. In other words, hail drifts. There was only 6 feet of hail in a relatively small area where the flood left it.
And whether the storm was caused by AGW, I don’t think we can say one way or another but probably not.
Oh, i do realize it was drifts (the aerials do make it clear), but it’s still insane to see that many feet of hail piled up in a place where it’s been 85 all week. I had no idea anything like that could happen, drifts or not.
Yes, I believe in the evidence for AGW, but an isolated weather event like this is not any evidence in and of itself for it. While the Guardian article and some posters did remark on it, to be clear, I’m not using this as evidence for AGW. I’m just awed by the event.
Here’s another video I found yesterday where you can see a semi plowing through one of these drifts (looks like hail with flood water beneath it) and a more conservative estimate of 3-foot drifts. Regardless, it’s just a hell of a sight and just surreal to me.
Hail is going to only happen in warm weather - warm air rising pushing water up into the colder air in a thunderstorm, and all that.
Best result of a hail storm I’ve experienced was in a desert in the New Mexico/Arizona area. We saw the thunderstorm from the bottom of a mesa, and when we got to the top of the mesa, there was a couple of inches of hail on the ground.
This was an area full of sage, so the air was scented from the bruised sage, and it was hot enough that the hail was misting into the air.
It was really cool…
Well, yes, I know. We get hail here in the Chicago area on hot summer days, too. It’s just that sheer amount and the drifting that is amazing to me. Just to see a couple of feet of ice piled up in the middle of summer is surreal to me! Sure, a coating of hail is not all that unusual to see, but I’ve never seen multiple-foot high drifts like that.